Light bulbs at the supermarket

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Technofreak

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#100647 15-Apr-2012 23:01

Has anyone noticed that it's impossible to buy incandescent bulbs bigger than 100 watts at the supermarket?

We had noticed this some time ago and had several family members asking about this recently. They had come to the conclusion that they wee no longer available. So I'm guessing there's a few people around who used to buy these bulbs for use at home but now cannot buy them at the supermarket and may have come to the same conclusion.

The withdrawal of the higher wattage bulbs seemed to coincide with the introduction of the energy efficient bulbs. Is there some sort of plot to wean us off the good old incandescent bulb in favour of the new, and, in my opinion less than ideal, energy efficient bulbs?

However all isn't lost. Places like Mitre 10 Mega sell the higher wattage bulbs for those of you that want them.

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#609763 15-Apr-2012 23:41

Technofreak: Has anyone noticed that it's impossible to buy incandescent bulbs bigger than 100 watts?at the supermarket?

We had noticed this some time ago and had several family members asking about this recently. ?They had come to the conclusion that they wee no longer available. So I'm guessing there's a few people around who used to buy these bulbs for use at home but now cannot buy them at the supermarket and may have come to the same conclusion.

The withdrawal of the higher wattage bulbs seemed to coincide with the introduction of the energy efficient bulbs. ?Is there some sort of plot to wean us off the good old incandescent bulb in favour of the new, and, in my opinion less than ideal, energy efficient bulbs?

However all isn't lost. ?Places like Mitre 10 Mega sell the higher wattage bulbs for those of you that want them.

Supermarkets tend to only stock items that many people buy, so I presume 100 watt bulbs aren't that popular. Contact the supermarket owner if you want to know their reason. If you go to a specialist store you can get them

bfginger

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#609795 16-Apr-2012 07:22

Places like Mitre 10 Mega sell the higher wattage bulbs for those of you that want them.

I saw a couple buy a ten pack of plain old 100 watt incandescents for $5 and cringed. I don't know of any reason to buy those for general household lighting any more. The $3 Philips ecoclassic30 halogen incandescents the supermarkets and hardware outlets sell last at least twice as long, give a better light quality and use 30% less electricity.

A 70watt halogen incandescent will save you $5 per 1000 hours of operation versus a traditional 100watt incandescent including the higher unit cost. They also sell 105 and 140 watt halogen bulbs to replace 150 and 200 watt incandescents if you want something extra bright. The 140 watt halogens are harder to find which may have something to do with the "100 watt MAX" stickers so many fittings have on them ;)

Overseas Philips sells an ecoclassic50 30 watt replacements for 60 watt bulbs and 70watt halogen spotlights but I haven't seen them in NZ. Osram has an extremely bright 205watt halogen screw bulb but again the selection of lights in NZ is very limited.

jevvv

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#609805 16-Apr-2012 08:12

One drawback with the ecobulbs (compact fluoros) is they don't like power cuts - and even though we're part of "Auckland" our power supply is still rural... we expect to get a few power cuts a year, mainly during storms.

I put a couple of compact fluoros in and since their first power cut they make a quiet whistling sound. At the moment they still go, but I'm not sure what damage has been done nor their efficiency any more.

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#609808 16-Apr-2012 08:22

Just out of interest, as from the 10th of may, no more recessed downlights that use halogen or incandecent lamps, unless the design can have full insulation cover or abutment.

With the advent of LED alternatives except to see the demise of this type of lamp all together. LED alternatives can be fully covered by insulation and pose no fire risk.

http://www.energysafety.govt.nz/templates/Page____46993.aspx

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#609861 16-Apr-2012 10:35

Technofreak: Has anyone noticed that it's impossible to buy incandescent bulbs bigger than 100 watts at the supermarket? [...] Is there some sort of plot to wean us off the good old incandescent bulb in favour of the new, and, in my opinion less than ideal, energy efficient bulbs?

Unlikely. With the availability of EE bulbs putting out the same amount of light, I'd guess sales dropped and supermarkets wanted to use the space for more profitable and faster selling lines.

jevvv

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#609867 16-Apr-2012 10:39

And I have yet to find an eco bulb at my supermarket with a similar light output to a 200 watt incandescent.

Yes I need them - our living room is 2 storeys high and quite large :)

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allan

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#609874 16-Apr-2012 11:00

Try finding incandescent 40w twisty candle bulbs for a chandelier now. Nothing LED to replace them yet and other eco-bulbs either look extemely ugly, or they just don't fit in the space available.

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#609879 16-Apr-2012 11:14

allan: eco-bulbs either look extemely ugly, or they just don't fit in the space available.

With the extra ballast room required on cfl's we've run into this with some light housings that can't accept cfl equivalents. Best we could do was a compact halogen style, in a standard sized lamp housing that was roughly 75% of the original power equivalent.

Technofreak

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#609881 16-Apr-2012 11:20

allan: Try finding incandescent 40w twisty candle bulbs for a chandelier now. Nothing LED to replace them yet and other eco-bulbs either look extemely ugly, or they just don't fit in the space available.

Try going to somewhere like Mitre 10, they have them.

As for the EE bulbs, I will never buy another one, my experience with them is they are expensive, don't last very long and put out a poor light plus they are not eco friendly to dispose of.

As for down lights, they're a very inefficient way to light the room, I would never install them.

I haven't seen the halogen lights that have been mentioned here. Do they fit into the standard BC fitting?

LED lights are the way of the future IMO.

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#609893 16-Apr-2012 11:40

I've had good service from the Phillips EE's, and the spectrum is nice as well. I like the standard round shape, easy to change.

Nothing but random failures from other random brands, but they have probably been economic, just.

I see that EcoBulb are the only supplier with the NZ Energy Star certification (8000 hours, 2yr guarantee) - not tried the current generation.

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#609914 16-Apr-2012 11:53

The philips halogen replacements kill dimmers when they blow just like GU10's do.

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#609916 16-Apr-2012 11:54

gzt: I've had good service from the Phillips EE's, and the spectrum is nice as well. I like the standard round shape, easy to change.

Nothing but random failures from other random brands, but they have probably been economic, just.

I see that EcoBulb are the only supplier with the NZ Energy Star certification (8000 hours, 2yr guarantee) - not tried the current generation.

I gave the Ecobulbs a try and have since replaced all the lamps in my house with them. They do take a few seconds to warm up but the light output is excellent. http://www.ecobulb.com/nz/index.html

Previously we had incandescents just hanging from their cable, but I went out and got these lamps and some simple globe shaped covers and find the lighting is excellent now.

allan

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#609935 16-Apr-2012 12:04

Technofreak: Try going to somewhere like Mitre 10, they have them.

Yes well the instruction to purchase was for clear twisty candle bulbs. I did find frosted ones, but "apparently" they don't sparkle enough.

I also tried The Lightbulb Man www.lightbulbman.co.nz as they usually have everything, but they are having trouble sourcing them now as well.

ronw

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#610057 16-Apr-2012 14:51

Lighting Direct had a nice range of 26 and 32 Watt bulbs with a 5600 degree K output which I prefer to those warm coloured bulbs. They had both GES and bayonet

allan:
Technofreak: Try going to somewhere like Mitre 10, they have them.

Yes well the instruction to purchase was for clear twisty candle bulbs. I did find frosted ones, but "apparently" they don't sparkle enough.

I also tried The Lightbulb Man www.lightbulbman.co.nz as they usually have everything, but they are having trouble sourcing them now as well.

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#610101 16-Apr-2012 16:12

Technofreak: Has anyone noticed that it's impossible to buy incandescent bulbs bigger than 100 watts?at the supermarket?

We had noticed this some time ago and had several family members asking about this recently. ?They had come to the conclusion that they wee no longer available. So I'm guessing there's a few people around who used to buy these bulbs for use at home but now cannot buy them at the supermarket and may have come to the same conclusion.

The withdrawal of the higher wattage bulbs seemed to coincide with the introduction of the energy efficient bulbs. ?Is there some sort of plot to wean us off the good old incandescent bulb in favour of the new, and, in my opinion less than ideal, energy efficient bulbs?

However all isn't lost. ?Places like Mitre 10 Mega sell the higher wattage bulbs for those of you that want them.

You may find that a lot of light sockets are not rated for incandescent bulbs above 100W due to heat and fire risks.

This may be the reason there are less freely available. But i am only guessing :P

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