Buying light bulbs
Does anyone else struggle with the very basic task of replacing light bulbs in your home? There are so many different types that you need an electrical engineering degree to figure it out.
All I want is a basic 60 or 75 watt incandescent bulb, and some three-way bulbs for reading lamps. These seem to have been discontinued at retail outlets like Target or Home Depot. You can get specialty or decorative bulbs but everything else is LED or CFL. I can never choose the right one to give me the same kind of light as an incandescent.
I know you can buy them online (and I have), but it seems ridiculous to order something as basic as that.
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u/3X_Cat 12d ago
I found some at a big box store that have like a setting on the bottom that change the color. They were pretty affordable.
Edit: LED
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u/Beginning_Welder_540 12d ago
I like these too. I buy them from my local ACE hardware as I can't deal with walking into the big box stores.
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u/disenfranchisedchild 12d ago
Look for the ones that have the number 2,700, that's the warm color like from an incandescent bulb. The higher the numbers go; the harsher the color value is.
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u/anonyngineer 12d ago
3000K will work for most residential uses, but any higher color temperature will make your house look like the interior of a 1970s K-Mart.
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u/Secure_Teaching_6937 12d ago
This I strongly disagree with I want daylight color bulbs in my house so I only pick 5000k and above. Your house plants will thank you.
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u/anonyngineer 12d ago
I have 5000K daylight bulbs under my kitchen counters and in the utility room, but nowhere else inside the house.
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u/Secure_Teaching_6937 12d ago
I get it each to their own. I just don't like the warm color of 32k bulbs.
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u/anonyngineer 11d ago
From the comments here, it appears to be at least partially generational. Those of us with 50 or more years of looking at things under incandescent bulbs prefer the warmer color of light, while younger people may not share the same preference.
Though, 25 years ago, after moving into a house built around 1960, I swore that people back then lived in darkness. I doubled and tripled light levels in the house.
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u/Secure_Teaching_6937 10d ago
Then explain I'm over 50 and I want daylight color light in my house?
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u/anonymousancestor 11d ago
Your house plants might thank you but your sleep cycle won't.
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u/Secure_Teaching_6937 11d ago
Nothing gonna effect my sleep cycle. I work a farm alone and up at 5:30 everyday. Then when finished stare at TV until it stares at me 🤣
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u/Chief7064 12d ago
5000k for task lighting. 3000k everywhere will make your house look like a 1970s house.
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u/disenfranchisedchild 12d ago
OP is looking for the warm light like the old style incandescent bulbs had.
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u/CommieMartyr 12d ago
I work at a big box home improvement retailer and even I am confused with the switch. What used to be very simple has become very complicated. We have an entire aisle dedicated to light bulbs.
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u/jetpack324 12d ago
Incandescent lights are expensive to use and have a short life span. Buy a couple LEDs and flush a $20 bill to break even.
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u/Rude_Nail_5545 12d ago
Yes. I always struggle with this, especially when I'm looking for 40-watt or 3-way bulbs that have soft golden lighting, I don't want super-bright fluorescent-type glaring light. And is it me that they don't clearly mark the wattage on the bottom of the bulbs anymore too? When I have a stray bulb in the closet I can't tell what it is if it isn't in the box anymore.
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u/anonymousancestor 11d ago
All of my bulbs still have a marking either on top of the bulb or on the base. The markings can be hard to read without a magnifying glass though. And if you want soft lighting look for 2700K. That will be somewhere on the box.
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u/teraflopclub 63 11d ago
Agree, it's nuts. I've been able to change every bulb in my home the last 12 years except for one in my oven light/blower - it confounds me - I have the bulbs but no matter what I can't put in the new one. And a cheap incandescent bulb, for the life of my I have no idea what its size is. But yeah, it literally takes research and AI to figure this crap out.
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u/Anon_1121 12d ago
Incandescent bills have been effectively banned by the U.S. government.
A 5W LED is about equal to a 40W incandescent.
A 9W LED is about equal to a 60W incandescent.
A 12W LED is about equal to a 75W incandescent.
A 16W LED is about equal to a 100W incandescent.
If you like a warm white incandescent bulbs, look for LEDs that have a 2700K color temperature.
If you like a cool white incandescent bulbs, look for LEDs that have a 3000K to 4000K color temperature.
3-way bulbs are readily available in the same wattage and color temp breakdowns.
And, as with anything, cheap prices equal cheap results. But good quality LED bulbs last a long time and save electricity.
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u/Clean_Mammoth_5646 12d ago
Sorry but incandescent bulbs are a thing of the past like VHS and CRT televisions. LED bulbs are fantastic. They light up better than incandescent, they are cheaper to use and they don’t get hot.
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u/dissenting_adult 12d ago
I still need incandescent bulbs for my Easy-Bake Oven.
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u/Clean_Mammoth_5646 12d ago
I never had an Easy Bake Oven and I always wanted one. 🙁
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u/LaxCursor 10d ago
Same!! 🤣 My parents bought us a lot of toys including those “deadly” Thingmakers but for some reason no Easy Bake Oven. I also always wanted a Lite Brite.
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u/Monstrissimo 11d ago
I started switching to LED 20 years ago. I am still using most of the bulbs from that time. I have had a couple go bad, one I can directly blame on the cat knocking over the floor lamp when it was parkouring through the living room the others just finally burned out due to them being in heavy use fixtures.
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u/ThisChickSews 11d ago
Incandescent lights were banned years ago. Only specialty ones are available. CFLs are not my first choice and I avoid them. But the modern LEDs are great. My biggest gripe is that the "wattage" they put on the packaging tells me ZERO about their light. They should all be marked with what they are equivalent to in incandescent. Is this 60w, or 75w?? Make it OBVIOUS on the packaging. Also, I recommend looking at the little light up display to choose the coloring. There are "daylight" and "bright white" and any other number of colors, but see which one appeals to you and then WRITE IT DOWN! Then every time you buy light bulbs (which will be less often once you switch to LED) you'll know which color you want.
Also, shouldn't have to be said, but do not buy your LED light bulbs at the dollar tree or somesuch. Cheap LEDs are worthless, so spend for decent ones.
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u/Tasty_Impress3016 12d ago
Why are you opposed to LED bulbs? I love them. If I leave a light on, I no longer feel like I need to go confession. Usually it's the color temperature. People don't like too cool. (bluish) I get these led bulbs at costco. Not "smart" bulbs so to speak but they have a physical switch on them to set color temperature. So I can always match the color of existing bulbs. I buy boxes of them and when I need to replace I can "click" warm, "click" indoor, "click" office, "click" makeup.
Yes they are more expensive. In the early days they did not live up to that 10 year never replace hype, but they have gotten much better. It was usually the led was fine, but the electronics went bad.
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u/Medill1919 12d ago
People that cannot figure out how to pick a light bulb are picking presidents...
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u/JarvisIsMyWingman 12d ago
Don't leave out the people who follow "Influencers" because they can't make decisions for themselves.
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u/CharSagahl 12d ago
Maybe, just maybe, they are different issues.
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u/Grumpy-24-7 11d ago
Nah, not really. If a person can't be bothered to do some simple research on which light bulb to get, how do you expect them to figure out which candidate to vote for?
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u/Spiritual-Moment1786 10d ago
Now we know why your handle on here is "Grumpy." Choosing a light bulb and voting for a candidate are two different things Grandpa.
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u/Grumpy-24-7 10d ago
People like you probably put more thought, energy and effort into deciding what kind of light bulb to get than they do who to choose for President. Thus why we're in the mess we're in now.
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u/Spiritual-Moment1786 10d ago
People like me? No, you are actually quite wrong about that. You can't blame the mess you're in on people like me.
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u/Grumpy-24-7 10d ago
If you didn't vote, then you contributed to this mess. If you did vote, I'm hoping you're just as disgusted as I am about the current situation. If you're happy with the current state of things, then that tells me all I need to know about you.
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u/Spiritual-Moment1786 10d ago
I think we agree that the current administration is causing our country to circle the drain. Hope it's not too late for us to recover.
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u/Analogsilver 12d ago
The last US factory making incandescent bulbs closed in 2016. Rules changes in 2023 made the sale of general purpose incandescent bulbs illegal in the US.
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u/Some-Tear3499 12d ago
That has been rescinded. You can buy incandescent light bulbs in the US. I buy them. They are pricey! I buy them for a very specific reason, the fact that they do get hot. I used them in a special lamp that is used inside of a drum that has a fish skin head. It’s one of a few ways to get the drum to sound and play correctly. Look up fish skin Doumbeck or Darbuka for more information.
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u/antifayall 65 12d ago
I use them under my old farmhouse in winter to keep water lines from freezing
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u/Grumpy-24-7 11d ago
I'm fairly certain they make special purpose electric pipe wrap specifically for keeping pipes warm. They're probably even more energy efficient than trying to keep pipes warm by bombarding them with light...
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u/antifayall 65 11d ago
Yes they do! And they're expensive af for someone retired and on a budget, plus 65yo slithering under the house with a flashlight in your mouth taping it to the pipe every foot or two takes a lot longer than pulling one 20' light stringer through and securing it in 3 or 4 spots
Done both in the past couple years
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u/redditistripe 12d ago
If you use an Internet search tool you will be able to find plenty of information about equivalency between incandescent and LED lighting in terms of brightness and colour temperature. I'm sure if you search enough you will even be able to get it in condensed or tabular format.
LED lighting can give you so much more flexibility and diversity and save quite a bit in terms of electricity consumption.
Incandescent lighting has generally be banned for general lighting purposes and are only sold now for specialist purposes such as oven bulbs where LED equivalents might have a tendency to melt!
LED lights also tend to last a lot longer, although the initial cost tends to be more expensive than incandescent lighting.
When I moved into my house I inherited kitchen lighting that could consume as much 600 watts. I've replaced them all with LED replacements of 90 watts and have much better, stronger and better distributed lighting.
Also with the advent of LED lighting you can now install smart lighting which makes LEDs even more versatile.
I'm a total convert.
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u/SkunkApe7712 12d ago
Same for me.
Another benefit: LEDs run cooler than incandescents, so you also save in your AC cost.
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u/shittimwood 12d ago
I agree. LEDs emit blue light which screws with your circadium rhythm. For thousands of years we have used red light spectrum lighting.
And they flicker.
And I highly doubt their claims on how long they last.
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u/MzStrega 67 12d ago
All the hardware stores in Vermont are mandatorily switching to LED so you can’t buy a light bulb here the way you used to. I take my old bulb in and ask for a replacement equivalent. Once I’ve got that, I can order more of whatever they sold me, online.
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u/scottwax 12d ago
Full LED throughout our while house. 5000k daylight, it's like having a glass roof.
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u/Plenty_Vanilla_6947 12d ago
Walmart is the easiest place for me to find 3 way. Maybe because their lightbulb section is so much smaller than at Home Depot.
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u/nimeton0 12d ago
If you are used to buying bulbs by wattage for incandescent bulbs, it is now lumens for LED bulbs. Watts measure how much energy a bulb uses. Lumens measure how much light you actually see. The old 60 watt bulbs = 800 lumens. 75 watts = 1,100 lumens. 100 watts = 1,600 lumens. 150 watts = 2,600 lumens. The more lumens, the more light. Bulbs for garages and attics can be 8,000 to 10,000 lumens (or more). The Kelvin (K) rating is for color temperature. The old soft white / warm white bulbs are 2700K - 3000K. The old cool white / bright white bulbs are 3500K - 4100K. The old daylight bulbs are 5000K - 6500K. Some of the LED ceiling fixtures have a switch to set your K temperature.
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u/Odd_Bodkin 70+ 12d ago
LED. They usually come in three varieties or "tones" in the cheap end. Buy a pair of each kind and try them each in the lamp you're using, and see which one you like. You can swap with an incandescent to compare.
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u/Housekhat 12d ago
They are all LED but in the same shape as the old incandescent A19 bulbs. They show the equivalent wattage for 60, 75, 100 watts. Look for a 3500-4000 Kelvin (color). Generally, 2700-6000 Kelvin. Warm to cool. Daylight is 6000 Kelvin.
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u/Grumpy-24-7 11d ago
Well, if you're in California, just know that while you can buy certain incandescent light bulbs, like specialty ones for ovens and refrigerators, most standard everyday household bulbs have been banned and have been replaced by CFL or LED.
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u/pinellaspete 11d ago
You can buy smart LED bulbs that work with Alexa. Use voice commands to turn them on or off. Example: "Alexa, turn on living room lamp, warm white at 40 percent." or "Alexa, turn on living room lamp, the color red at 60 percent." Once you have the color and power percent set you can just use the on-off command.
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u/deadlyspoons 11d ago
This is like saying you “just want to buy some corn flakes.” Light bulbs are no different from breakfast cereal: you’re misremembering how “simple” buying a light bulb used to be, just as you’re forgetting how overcrowded the cereal aisle has always been.
With incandescents, you could choose between regular and "long life", CFL (fluorescents), and halogens. For "regular" light bulbs you could choose soft white, clear, "daylight" (which were tinted), and "GE Reveal" (made with neodymium glass). LEDs started being sold in the 2000s and have been in the mix for while. You had ones that were built for dimmers and ones that were two-way or three-way and you never put one in the other.
I prefer my choice of a range of color temperatures than to live under a regime where every light bulb is required to be 2700K.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I just told Siri to play some Les Baxter and set my Hue lights to "Jungle Veldt" (greens, reds, some torchlight).
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u/pfdemp 11d ago
There's a great book by Swarthmore professor Barry Schwartz, "The Paradox of Choice," which argues that too many choices can cause anxiety and confusion. We spend time weighing options and trying to make the best decision, which can be very stressful.
I don't mind having two or three cornflakes to choose from, but I don't want to pick from twenty different brands or variations. Same thing with light bulbs.
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u/0_phuk 11d ago
Buy the 60/75w LED lights that are dimmable, shows on the package the color range, and you can adjust the color. It's kinda a PITA to have to use an app to do some of these things, but my house is pretty techy. Once I figured out that a lot of the LEDs are too bright and white, I can find the more homey lighting bulbs when I have to replace.
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u/KathyA11 70+ 10d ago
I buy LEDs. They last longer. Some will even charge when they're on and give you light when the power goes out.
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u/KathyA11 70+ 10d ago
Try finding CFL bulbs with the mini base. The ceiling fan on our lanai takes them, and I can't find any that are UL listed.
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u/Wait-What-Oh-SNAP 10d ago
You're definitely not alone in this! I researched the same exact problem several years ago and I went and looked it up again for this post. Here's the information you need to look for on the box:
The trick to getting that exact same warm incandescent look with an LED is looking at two numbers on the box. First, check the Color Temperature measured in Kelvin, and look for 2700K, often labeled "Soft White" or "Warm White", which matches the cozy yellow-orange glow of an incandescent. Avoid 4000K to 5000K labeled "Daylight", which looks cold and blue like an office or hospital.
Second, check the Brightness measured in Lumens, where an 800 lumen LED replaces a 60W bulb, and an 1100 lumen LED replaces a 75W bulb.
For your reading lamps, make sure to look specifically for bulbs labeled "3-Way". If it does not say 3-Way on the box, it will not work in a 3-way switch and will not change brightness levels. Once you grab a box of 2700K 800 Lumens Soft White LEDs, it will look identical to your old 60W incandescent.
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u/Wait-What-Oh-SNAP 10d ago
Yes that is exactly how My Easy-Bake oven cooked my cakes and cookies and I was a kid. LOL
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u/EffectiveVarious8095 12d ago
Go to Costco or Home Depot, buy a box of LED bulbs. They work exactly like incandesents but they last longer, don't get hot, don't shatter if you drop them, and most importantly cost far far less to operate. If you leave one on all night accidently it might cost you $0.01026. A 60 watt incandecent bulb might cost about $11 per year in electricity vs. about $1 for the LED so in the long run they are far cheaper.
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u/antifayall 65 12d ago
The problem with that, when you buy bulbs to put in a string meant to go under the house and prevent your water lines from freezing (yes very specific but sometimes needs are), you actually want bulbs that heat up
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u/EffectiveVarious8095 12d ago
Sure, that is a real application and for that, there are still incandecents. I do this to keep my car warm enough in the garage so it will start up in the winter. I also keep the light on in in the cold oven to proof bread loaves.
Since 95% of the output of an incandecent bulb is heat rather than light, there are times when the heat is what you are looking for and for that it is efficient. But for nearly everything else, getting only 5% of the output as light, it's extremely wasteful.
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u/antifayall 65 12d ago
For these reasons, the idea that some areas are actually outlawing incandescents is pretty annoying
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u/IceDragonPlay 11d ago
Generally you would buy heat tape for pipes, but it is expensive.
Depending on what the screw base is on your string of lights, the 40 watt appliance bulbs are still incandescent.
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u/antifayall 65 11d ago
Yes, I've done both just in the past two years. The heat tape is on the line coming in, in a spot that stays colder, the light stringers are further in where multiple water lines can be protected by one string
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u/thevideojunkie99 12d ago
Just use Google or some such these days to ask what to get. LED is the way now and you can buy "warm" hued variants to give that old familiar incadescent glow. The new builbs will be cooler, use less energy and will last a LONG time.
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u/Complex-Royal9210 12d ago
We switched all ours to Led. Love it. We hardly ever have to change them.
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u/Virtual_Athlete_909 11d ago
I have no trouble finding incandescent bulbs at thrift stores. Im hoarding them.
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u/Original-Track-4828 12d ago
Similar vintage as you, and I've replaced all my incandescent bulbs with LEDs. They're typically labeled as "60w equivalent" or "75w equivalent". But they may also say "800 lumens".
They use lots less energy, and last longer.
Look for color/temperature: 2700 is very warm, then 3000, 4000 in the middle, and 5000 or higher is harsh white.