Forum Archive

Hey all:

I’ve always used dimmers where I can, and now that I’m doing my house the architect, with my blessing, has spec’ed out dimmers almost everywhere.

At the same time, I’m trying to use compact florescents where possible. As I’m sure most people know, you can’t use normal CFLs on a dimmer switch. So I ordered a case of special dimmable CFLs from bulbs.com. What I got was Neptun 18w Helix Dimmable.

Within two weeks of installation, all of the bulbs that I installed in my hallway fixtures have burned out. Kaput. $180 worth of bulbs down the drain.

As long as I’m complaining, I’m all in favor of reducing the ol’ environmental footprint, but I can’t help but notice these CFLs are packaging hogs. 4 color printing. Blister packs. Whatever happened to the ol’ 2 color GE corrugated paper packaging?