why cant you use low energy bulbs with timer switches??

[empirestrikesback]

I've read somewhere (was it on the lightbulb box?) that you can't use energy saving lightbulbs with timer switches.Yet crime prevention advice is to use timer switches when you're away on holiday or whatever. Why is this and what do eco-friendly types do when they go on holiday/away overnight - just leave the house dark and more likely to be burgled?

Also, you can't use them with dimmer switches (which I can kind of understand, probably something to do with the funny way ES bulbs light up slowly..?). The people who lived in our house before us put dimmer switches in some of the rooms, so we can't use energy saving lightbulbs there. Unless, of course, we pay an electrician to come and replace them all, just so we can put energy saving lightbulbs in when we go on holiday ..

got mixed up there, the ES thing and dimmer switches not being to do with timers and going away on holiday
oh dear it must be past time for my Horlicks...

You can get dimmable low energy bulbs but they are more expensive.

(I have low energy bulbs in standard lamps on a timer for when I'm away though)

I use energy saving lightbulbs on timer switches and I'm sure I've got them on a dimmer switch upstairs too. It's getting harder to find normal bulbs these days so it's not exactly a choice thing.

thanks - I've never seen dimmable low energy bulbs - where from, what make? If you're using them with dimmers and timers then maybe I should just ignore the instructions and do that too. Is there an electrician out there who knows about this?!

Yes, def better to check ... it never occured to me that I might be doing something 'wrong/dangerous' but I might!

I can't see how low energy bulbs would be a problem with a timer - if you think about it, there is no difference between you clicking a switch to make the electrical connection, and a timer closing a switch to make the same connection . . .

Dimmers a completely different thing, you need special low energy lightbulbs for them.

If you don't want dimmers, and only have them because they are there (IYSWIM) would you not be able to change the switches for normal ones yourself rather than paying an electrician?