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[ltharris74]

I was just reminded that CFL bulb I got at the Shad Planking three years ago died. It had a 5 year guarantee so now I've got to find the box it came in and complain loudly that I was lied to.

OTOH I'm actually shocked it lasted this long. Usually the CFLs go out in less than 6 months.

Comments

[brother_buford]

The 5 year guarantee is most likely based on a specific calculated hours of usage per day, and the warranty is probably tied to that figure. If you use it more than that obviously it will die sooner. Expected life is generally marked as number of hours of usage, regardless of how long it really takes to get to that mark.

CFLs don't go out like incandescents do, as the general failure of an incandescent is the burning out of the element which in turn breaks the circuit. CFCs tend to not last much past rated hours because they are in fact designed to fail at a certain point. The ballast has circuitry intended to fail near end-of-life to cut the flow of electricity and prevent a shock hazard and/or fire.

[ltharris74]

Given that it is in the back room which I rarely go into, I doubt I've used it enough for it to think it has been 5 years.