Nobody's Carrying a Torchiere for Me Anymore

[robotech_master]

Day before yesterday, my halogen torchiere lamp finally gave up the ghost. The switch doesn't work, and the contacts with the bulb have apparently gotten damaged or worn to the point where they no longer provide power to the bulb even when the switch is on. So I trucked on down to a number of local stores to try to find a replacement.

It turned out not to be as simple as I had thought. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot—nobody carries halogen torchieres anymore. And why is that? Well, they burn at 1000 degrees, so if you're not careful, they'll "torchiere" house. And they do use a lot of energy and do so somewhat wastefully.

I don't know. I really wanted another halogen lamp—partly because I like the light they shed, but also because I know the halogen bulb I have is still good and wanted to get more use out of it. But if nobody local carries them, and the only way I could get one from Amazon would be to pay $14 for the lamp and $35 to ship the lamp—well, it starts to look kind of inefficient. And maybe I could do better than to have a 1000-degree heat source in my apartment at the height of summer.

Guess it's time to see if I can get a good compact fluorescent model inexpensively—I draw the line at an ordinary three-way incandescent.

Comments

[frustratedpilot]

We have one that we don't use much. *Looks at it* Oh. It's not halogen, it just looks like one. Pedistal lamp.

You can't just contact a local lighting company and see if you can get replacement hardware to spiff up the lamp you have?

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

I'm not an electrician, and it probably wouldn't be worth it.

[artmomz.livejournal.com]

I faintly recall burning my hand on one of those...

[frustratedpilot]

There are flourescent coil lights that will fit in three-way incandescent sockets.

Somehow I doubt that putting a lamp together requires an electrician.

Gahhh it burns it burns! (And they explode too)

[amigoid.livejournal.com]

I had one wear out. Frankly you should get a full spectrum incandesent. With all the CFL brouhaha, the incandescent bulbs are cheaper and I love the full-spectrum light. Thats my humble opinion.

Torchiere replacement

[(Anonymous)]

Burton from Montreal from the Korval universe

Got a 3-way incandescent floor lamp from the Home Depot after the previous Halogen floor lamp retired. Fitted out with 34W 3-Way compact fluorescent bulb, which is equivalent of a 150W incandescent bulb. Fluorescent bulb is about 60% more expensive than the lamp. Give about 4 years of service at triple the recommended usage rate (3hrs per day). There's a noticeable reduction in luminosity near the last 10% of the bulb's life cycle. But you do save on electricity, that's 34W fluorescent bulb compare to 300W halogen bulb.

Should cost you about $40 for the lamp & fluorescent bulb at Home Depot. Think thats where the Philips 34W 3-way compact fluorescent bulb is available for sure.