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| Amy Gahran |
| This new CFL doesn’t quite fit my lamp. Grrrrr…. |
Today at King Soopers I bought a GE 3-way compact fluorescent bulb to see if I could replace the conventional incandescent bulbs in my living room lamps. I’m glad I bought just one as a test, because I just tried to install it and was dismayed to find that I couldn’t get it into my lamp.
I think it would fit once it’s screwed in, but it’s too tall to get past the metal support for the lampshade.
This is frustrating… I’ll basically have to dismantle part of the lamp just to screw in a light bulb. I need to figure out if I want to go to that trouble. If anyone knows of a less drastic way to get that CFL into the socket, please comment below.
Compact fluorescents are a great idea, but dumb practical issues like this probably keep a lot of people from installing them everywhere. Organizations that promote their adoption — including Boulder’s energy programs — should keep this in mind.
Finding correctly sizeds CFL bulbs isn’t as easy as it should be…
For instance, the packaging for the GE 3-way CFL bulb I bought (12-23-32 watts, replacing a standard 500-100-150 watt incandescent 3-way) does not specify the product’s overall length. This seems a rather significant omission.
…Not that the manufacturer’s length info would reliable. I just measured that bulb with a ruler, and it appears to be just over 6.75 inches, including the base. Interestingly, GE’s technical details page for this bulb lists that product’s overall length as just 6.3 inches.
I’m guessing that a 3-way bulb 6.5 inches or less would fit in my living room lamps, so I’ll probably be shopping around for that — and I’ll have to remember to bring a ruler to the store! Feit Electric’s model is supposed to be 6.2 inches long — we’ll see about that.
Entries (RSS)
July 13th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Although somewhat of a headache, you can either buy a larger harp to accommodate the bulb or buy a different bulb, maybe one that isn’t three way that is shorter and will fit into the light socket without causing you to replace the harp.
July 13th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
We simply removed the “harp” (I didn’t know that is what it is called), put the bulb in, and then put the harp back on :c)
July 13th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
The harp pops off very easily in every lamp I’ve ever seen. It is literally a 5-10 second operation. Slide up the metal rings then squeeze the harp.
July 21st, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Had exactly the same experience. Removing the harp allowed screwing in the bulb, but the bulb was still too tall reattach the harp. Solution: search the Web for smaller CFL 3-ways (not made by GE). Here are two sources that should work:
* environmentallights.com - CF28C, 5.88″ vs the GE’s 6.3″
* lightbulbemporium.com - Sylvania 29351, 5.75″
Because these bulbs have shorter spiral tubes, they are not quite as bright as the bigger GE-style bulb: 1750 and 1600 lumens, respectively, at their high setting vs. 2100 lumens for the GE. Also, their light color is a little cooler (more blue/white) than the incandescent coloring of the GE. If you prefer warmer light, go for the Sylvania bulb, which is only 300K whiter than the GE.
As consumer demand grows, technology will offer still more options for us.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:39 am
I agree, looks like a chore. But you only have to do it once every seven years. So you might burn out on the lamp before the bulb needs replacement…
March 7th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
This problem is still with us. In my case the Harp was too narrow and the plastic saddle extensions, provided with the bulb, would not fit on the saddle wings. A local lamp parts dealer sold me a set of brass extenders that were also too small for the saddle wings. the simple solution would be a wider Harp Saddle that will accommodate the wider bulb. Wall-Mart, Lowe’s, Target and Home Depot sell the bulbs but none have any ideas to solve the problem of fiting the large three-way to existing lamps. The solution is for the Bulb and Lamp Manufacturers to solve the problem of making bulbs and lamps that are compatible and or replacement lamp parts that will accept the larger bulbs.