To have a rant about light bulb and lamp shade manufacturers

[5Foot5]

OK I suppose this might be what is classed as a first world problem but it had me in full rant mode recently.

We have redecorated and, as a knock on from this, we decided some new light shades were in order. We went to John Lewis where we found one or two we thought we could live with but then DH noticed that on each one there is a maximum power of light bulb that it is safe with. Of course we then realised there is no easy way of doing the comparisons on light bulbs because there are all the different sorts of energy saving ones and they all seem to express their power in different ways depending on whether they are CFL or halogen or whatever. Nor do the lamp shade manufacturers seem to be consistent in which sort of bulb they use to give their recommendations.

Eventually we found a chart purporting to show how they all compared but it was still a bit sketchy. Basically what we needed to know was what sort of energy saving bulb gives us the equivalent to the old-fashioned incandescent 100w and then which shades will take a bulb like that.

Well we eventually managed to establish the first piece of information but to our utter frustration it seemed that none of the lamp shades, in John Lewis at least, would take anything like that sort of bulb.

A young chap who worked there came to see if he could help, spent five minutes giving me the spiel on how good enery saving lights were but was unable to answer why all the lamp shades available would apparently combust if you put anything more powerful than a glow worm in them and why would I want to spend all that money on a lamp shade if I am then virtually stumbling around in the dark because of the bulb I need to use.

Finally we ended up in Homebase where we managed to buy a couple of glass lamp shades that will apparently take a bulb almost as powerful as we want - we are only exceeding the recommended wattage by about 10%.

So OK I get the arguments for energy saving (though I am deeply sceptical that the bulbs will last as long as they claim as I am sure I have had one blow after less than 2 years) but
a) why can't the comparison information be expressed in a way that is more consistent?

b) why don't the people making lamp shades make them a bit more robust?

Rant over

I have recently bought DS a new bedside lamp and it says you cant change the bulb in it...who thought that was a bright (or not so when the bulb goes) idea

This is incredibly, unnecessarily complicated.

Yanbu OP

AFAIK LEDs the glass bit doesn't get hot but the solid bit does. And pretty sure CFLs are the same.
And it does matter ...I had an enclosed light fitting for my stairs - was here when we moved in and it kept blowing the bulb (60w incandescent) eventually found a small label inside that said max 40w - too dark for the stairs.
So I got a new (also enclosed) fitting that said max 60w (and had a poncy type of bulb) I stuck in a CFL equivalent to 60 w and it was fine but it dimmed over time (As all CFLs do - a (good) few years ago Which did 'best buy' CFLs and that was one of the criteria they measured - how long they lasted without significant dimming - and I find even LEDs do the same).
I thought I'd get a more powerful CFL (equivalent to 100w - so 15W? I think at the time) so when it did dim it would still be acceptable. It would have cost the best part of £10 (poncy type). Except it only lasted a couple of weeks before the electrics inside it went faulty and it started working intermittently .
(Another annoying thing about low energy bulbs - had the same with halogen under counter ones and an LED as well as this one - good old fashioned bulbs blew and that was it, never worked again - for this I actually thought it couldn't be the (new) bulb, had the fitting off, switch covers off, mulitmeter out etc thinking it was a loose wire/faulty switch, until I worked out it had to be the bulb).
Anyway I thought it just must be a faulty bulb and took it back. Got a replacement (different 'better' make) and a couple of weeks later same problem. I got a new one equivalent to 60w - no problems for years (except has dimmed again )

And I will take them back if they don't last very long - always keep the receipts, and note where they are fitted - they aren't cheap! I have spotlights in the bathroom - gradually switched to all CFL reflectors years ago, when they were £20 each, now moving onto to LEDs - I once worked out I have spent at least £160 on bulbs in the last 10 years for just that room. So if it says it will last 10 yrs on for 2hrs a day, even if it was on 24hrs a day it should last more than 6 months...

Wow.

Mumsnetters really do know everything! :)

Uterus
at your name

Well not really that simple at all. If a shade says max 40w, but the bulb says 15w = 100w, do we assume the bulb is safe and go by the smaller number, or treat the 15w LED bulb exactly like a traditional bulb?

I agree, it would take very little time and effort to make the labels clearer by having a breakdown of max wattage for each type of bulb. Also miffed that shades aren't built wo withstand more output!

I agree, it would take very little time and effort to make the labels clearer by having a breakdown of max wattage for each type of bulb.

Re-read the thread, the type of bulb is irrelevant. All you need to know is (a) what wattage the shade is rated for and (b) the actual wattage of the bulb. (What it is equivalent to is neither here nor there.)

Once you know those two numbers, you need to ensure that shade wattage is greater than or equal to bulb wattage.

As someone said three years ago when the thread started, it really is as simple as comparing two numbers and seeing which is higher.

What seems to confuse people is two watt figures appearing on the bulb. Maybe it's the bulbs that need to be more clearly labelled, so that people understand which one of these is the actual consumption.

I wish more bulbs would give lumens prominently - I know it's not the manufacturers' fault that the old system was misleading, because people perceived watts as a measure of brightness so now they try to explain actual watts as equivalent brightness to 'old watts', but it would be great if retailers had a chart showing brightnesses in lumens, example old-style-bulb wattage, and typical new wattage.

I want bulbs as bright as old-style 100W or ideally 150W ones. The longlife bulbs were never good except for the free ones from the electric companies (I got at least 4 houses worth). Now we just buy LED lights which generally work well except for one dodgy batch from Ebay.

So has anyone found suitable shades anywhere for 15w led bulbs then?

Ideally fairly small...

The 'rant' about light bulb(s) and lamp shade manufacturers seems justified to me, but doesn't go far enough, there are other issues. I'm

1. Dissatisfied by the troglodytic effect of 'low energy' bulbs,
2. Concerned by toxic mercury in CFL bulbs, and,
3. Thoroughly alarmed by the suggestion that LED bulbs may harm health: articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/10/23/near-infrared-led-lighting.aspx

This is fantastic information. I have just spent days going around shops and trying to buy a suitable shade and suitable bulbs, having previously used only 150W bulbs in the room in question. The shade needed replacing and has been proving impossible. I can now work out from lumens and wattage what is safe and what I need. Many thanks tp the person who posted this message.