What type of fitting are the light bulbs in NZ, bayonet or E/S?
And does anyone ever bother to use those "Energy Saver" things that take for ever to get bright?
Junior Member
Domestic Electrics...light bulbs
What type of fitting are the light bulbs in NZ, bayonet or E/S?
And does anyone ever bother to use those "Energy Saver" things that take for ever to get bright?
Senior Member
They use either type of fitting (bayonet and E/S), they even appear to use whichever they want around the house e.g. our house is mostly E/S but there are a few bayonet as well.Originally Posted by Tech21
I don't know which is the more common around NZ but in our last two houses E/S were more common.
And yes, they have promotions of the "Energy Saver" CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) to get everyone switched over, there has also been some talk of banning the use of the old (incandescent) bulbs.
Ian
Junior Member
Thanks for that Ian, They are also talking about banning incandescent bulbs in the UK too....The global warming lobby has a lot to answer for...if I am paying for the energy I don't see why I can't have the choice....use energy efficient bulbs so Transpower (who my wife has just got a job with) makes less money or use filament bulbs and then they can have a reasonable lump of my cash....oh well.
Cheers
Gareth
Senior Member
We use the energy efficient light bulbs, but in places where we need the 'instant' light and where the light won't be on for long, we use the normal bulbs - eg in the wardrobes, pantry, laundry etc.
Junior Member
Thanks for that,
Do the energy efficiant bulbs make any noticable difference to your electric bill or not?
And for that matter, what price is domestic electricity in NZ compaired to UK prices?
Thanks
Gareth
Senior Member
Check out Power Switch.
Fill in the details and it will provide you with the best options. If you then select the plan it will give you detailed information on charges - you can use this to compare to UK.
It also does gas if you are interested.
Ian
Senior Member
Can't really tell you if it makes a difference usng the energy saving light bulbs as the previous owners had already put them in.
As for Electricity bills, well we have a big house (380 metres squared), 3 kids (who never turn off lights!!), playstations, computers Tv's etc, hibby in the 'man cave' welding, and our electricity bills are averaging around $100 per month.
Our heating, hot water, and gas hob are all on Gas which costs, $85 per bottle, during the winter we were going throough a bottle aprox every 3 weeks, and last Autumn our longest stint was 2 months before we had to change the bottle, we've yet to see what its like over the summer!
HTH
Junior Member
Never heard that one before....but rather a fine and apt description.
Thanks for the info, sounds a lot cheaper than I am paying in the UK at present, and our house is reasonably large by modern UK semi sizes but 380m^2 it ain't....lucky if it's 100m^2 including upstairs....hang on, I'll work it out....'it's 24 feet by 18 feet x 2 = 864ft^2 which is divided by sq ft in a sq mtr which is around 10.77 which is 80m^2, therefor your house is has nearly 5 times the floor area of my UK one and as I said, ours isn't considered small.
Is you house considered large by NZ standards?
Cheers
G
Senior Member
ermmmmmmmmmmmmm well - it has been described by another member of this forum (a good friend i might add) as obscene!!!
We did want a large house, we have 3 boys who all need there space (and so do we!!) It's on a lifestyle block, just over an acre, the bedrooms are huge, we have a massive, kitchen, dining, living (but filled with a snooker table) area, and a huge separate lounge. Surprisingly i don't mind vaccuuming it either, not having to drag the vac up and down stairs is brilliant!!
We didn't expect to end up with such a large one, but its the one that we both liked and that felt right! - if you follow my sig link to our piczo site - there are some photos on there if you want to be nosy!!
Oh yeah and just another note, we had a nice 'considered big compared to others around, detached house, with decent gardens in the uk, but the house alone, we have here wouldn't fit on the piece of land our old one was on! Pound for dollar we swapped what we had in the UK for what we have here, and I know which I prefer!!
Senior Member
From a professional point of view i can say that the energy saving lamps dont make a huge difference, but sure they do save in the long run for sure. But if you are forever turning them on and off, they could actually turn out to use more power than a normal lamp you know!
So as Marcia correctly advised, its best to not use energy savers in places that get turned off and on loads, firstly it provides poor light as they dont get bright enough if only on for short periods and secondly as i said they dont save much energy if there ona nd off all the time.
From a personal point of view, and one from a guy who has studied lighting design of buildings and interiors professionally, i actually hate them in 90% of locations, as they cast the usual nasty fluorescents light ( i wont get technical with colour temperatures etc) they physically look pants hanging from your ceiling etc. As a prime example the rental i am in now, my flatmate has been all "green" and replaced all lamps with the energy savers even in the brass-effect decrotive fittings with 3 lamps. So where the lounge should have a nice brass light with 3 ambient candle-lamps in it nicely, it now has 3 huge ghastly bulging compacts stuck in it, and when you turn it on rather than a nice cosy warm glow to the room, all you get is patchy bright office like flourescents. So in my opinion they have a use maybe in store rooms etc if you leave it on for a bit, but in any living areas like your bedroom or lounge etc then please try and create an atmosphere and not a bright bulging office!
Hereth ends the designer-like rant LOL
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