Just spent 30mins last night trying to find out why my 5A lighting fuse blew. Traced it to an 11W Philips bulb (only been installed a couple of weeks). During the tracing it blew the 5A fuse again when I operated the switch for that room (yes old fuse box - no breakers!). That's not bad - over 1200W being drawn from an 11W rated device! These things could be fire risk.

Quite a smell of burning and some black marks where the tubes enter the plastic casing of the bulb. Decided to investigate further (Seriously, don't do this at home folks - sharp glass and hazardous materials if you break them, I am a qualified Electrical/Electronics Technician). A visual inspection after stripping off the casing revealed that the circuit board had a carbonised/burned area on the solder side. Possibly insulation broke down due to high voltage arcing? Couldn't test any of the electronics due to lack of equipment and time.

I've had two or three of these go this way over the years and I'm certainly worried about leaving them on as a timed security light when the house is empty. Got two lots of free Philips bulbs from British Gas, then one lot from EDF which were Osram - much better quality.

There is some info on brand reliability here. Also saw this while Googling on the subject of low energy bulb failure.

I've put 1A fuses in my table lamp's plugs that use these bulbs, just as a precaution.

This is the kind of thing that BBC Watchdog or Which Magazine love to get their teeth into.

All the energy companies get credit for reducing carbon dioxide emissions if they can persuade you to buy these bulbs. Most supermarkets partake with them to sell the bulbs for less than £1. Tesco had an offer of 5 bulbs for 40p and, unusually for Tesco offers, they had some on the shelf and I got some, checked the receipt to be sure and went back the next day only to find an empty shelf. Morrisons also seem to partake in similar offers although they tend to sensibly stock up the shelf when there's a good offer.

Yes I have had 3 philips bulbs blow within 7 days of each other. Seems like i may have paid over the odds for them at Homebase - £1.99 per one for a 12w tornado style 65w equivalent and £4.99 for a 20w tornado 115w equivalent. Have had one of the 20W ones go and 2 12w ones. Returned the first 12w one and ogt a replacement from homebase, havent got round to doing the other two yet. Sent an email to philips, maybe i should call them as i havnet had a reply in 5 - 6 days.

Thanks - I will investigate

I have seen some in B&Q that are energy saving bulbs which it stated on the packaging are dimmable. They didn't appear to be the tube type like most of them currently are. They seemed to have a small filament at the end, can't remember who they were made by, but think they were quite expensive, about £15 per bulb, but definately remember it saying that they were dimmable, they had them in screw and bayonet fitting as well. They were on a separate display away from all the other energy bulbs. One other thing I noticed was that they were slightly higher in wattage than standard energy bulbs. Where the Philips ones are approx 11watts equivalent to a 60w, these were about 17watts equivalent to a 60w, not that it makes much difference! Hope this helps.

Linked to this question - Does anyone know of any Low Energy Bulbs that will work with dimmer switches ?

I realise that flourescent tubes won't - they need the volts to fire the starter - but there are different types of bulb available now........

Seems that Philips bulbs are now affected. I received 4 free energy bulbs from British Gas, 2 x 60w and 2x40w equivalents. Inserted the 60w bulbs and switched them on with no problems. Inserted the 40w ones, one of them lit up orange and then went ping. The other one came on flickered, then went out with a puff of smoke which smelt of burning electronics. Contacted British Gas who aren't interested as in their eyes it is a goodwill gesture for them to send you energy bulbs that don't work! Contacted Philips who managed to send out 2 replacement 40w bulbs. One of which worked, the other one flickers for the first 5 minutes of use before settling down - would be ideal in a disco! Obviously something majorly wrong with Philip's 40w genie bulbs, however they won't admit it of course!! Philips state on their feedback that 'some bulbs may have a shorter lifespan than others and may not last the full 10 years as stated on the packaging'. I accept this, but for them not to even last 10 seconds.............. Anyone else had problems with them......?

Further to the above sources of energy saving bulbs at a decent price, when I was last in Asda, they had the same bulbs as Tesco but without the 2 for 1 offer. I was in Morrisons today and bought a few of their branded (Philips) 8W bulbs at 4 for £1 which is the best price I've yet seen for low energy bulbs. They also had some 5W low energy bulbs (I don't like bright lights!) in large screw, small screw and small bayonet, but not in the standard bayonet fitting for £1.99. I'm quite keen to find some low watt, low energy bulbs if anyone has other suggestions.

As they become more of a "standard" bulb to buy, I'm sure that the price will come down everywhere - 4 for £1 was the normal price for the old bulbs.

Spoken to Ring today to see what can be done. Many of these are new types to the market and they will be taking the bulbs back for inspection. More as this unfolds.

SHARK!

Sorry to have interfered, I was trying to respond to maxsteams post BB

BB:Haven't studied this thread but I'd like to point out that these bulbs are only small fluorescents, we have had fluorescents about 6ft long for years, they naturally contain much more mercury, yet we managed to dispose of them without the world ending. BB

No, this is nothing to do with disposing of these bulbs - it is all about their reliability against their over-inflated cost.

SHARK!

Haven't studied this thread but I'd like to point out that these bulbs are only small fluorescents, we have had fluorescents about 6ft long for years, they naturally contain much more mercury, yet we managed to dispose of them without the world ending. BB

maxsteam:

Apologies to have upset. No offense intended.

Sorry to have bitten at the time - must learn not to post replies when I am irritated!

Spoke to local builders in the area and they have told me some horror stories about these bulbs. The biggest problem is that the retailers will not usually accept that there is a faulty bulb and given their price this leaves the consumer HEAVILY out of pocket. Obviously if the bulb has blown in three or four days and they state that they should last for 6 years, then you have a problem which is obvious, but with the retail mentality you have little hope of getting either a replacement or your money back.

I have written to the manufacturer involved and will post any progress later.

SHARK!

Apologies to have upset. No offense intended.

The last ones I bought were 9W bulb shaped ones from Tesco - two for £1.68 - not really any better in my view than the bent tube shape 9W, two for £1.38 - both GE brand. Tesco also had some unbranded 11W ones that worked out at under 50p each if you buy a dozen. I'd stocked up on 11W ones so I didn't give those a try. I find that with a white lampshade, anything over 11W is too bright for most rooms. I've also bought from Home Bargains and Lidl but ther's less likely to be one of those near you than a Tesco. I've seen identical GE ones advertised on the internet at £5 or more each.

Whethere they are £5 or 50p, I'd still try to get them back to the shop if they failed within a few days.

Hoping that helps.

maxsteam:

If you are concerned about the cost of the bulbs, you should stop paying so much for them.

It is comments like this that really irritate me. When you live 15 miles from the nearest town, you don't have a lot of choice in the matter. Buying from the Internet negates any savings you make in the price AND you are not guaranteed to receive them in good order. Not everyone lives in villages, towns or cities, and you'd do well to remember that. With 3 packs costing anywhere between £5.99 to £24.99 (depending on bulb type) my concern was that people are being sold shoddy goods (nothing new there then) and having little recourse when they are faulty. Given that these wretched things are going to be the ONLY option in the not-too-distant future they need to adhere to their advertised 'worth'.

SHARK!