3 Pin light fittings

Yea i know what your saying tb, i have them installed in most of my properties, i think its got something to do with efficiency, the planet etc, it,s also meant to help landlords in that its meant to stop your tenant using cheap dangerous light bulbs. I think the health and safety brigade have went a bit crazy these days by trying to tell us how we should be living in our homes. 2 weeks ago i surveyed a property for a landlord that had a damaged ceiling due to water coming in from the flat upstairs. The ceiling had an artex finish that had been damaged. Straight forward job once it dries out of removing artex, plaster finish and 2 coats of chalk white. The insurance guy who assesed the job 3 weeks prior had taken a piece of artex away to be analised and found that because the artex was applied prior to 2001 that it had a trace amount of asbestos and that the whole ceiling would have to be removed, re instated and plastered, all the walls would have to be re-plastered, all the wooden flooring removed, steam cleaned and re- installed. I think the price quoted was about £9000. Oh and the landlord had not renewed his insurance policy so was not covered. If the assesor is correct then every one who has artex in their home that was applied before 2001 is sitting on a time bomb . The world has gone mad.

True Blue:

Apparently all new builds have to have 3pin light fittings...............at approx £10 each per lamp?

Con or safety?

eh? what are these like? lol

http://www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tubes/MEM-3-Pin-BC

Part P building regs to prevent changing of the lamps to "unsafe" ones................................

Think the lighting market has stagnated with the CF light fittings??  Revenue generation me thinks!!

Apart from one extra pin, what makes these bulbs at leat 10 times more expensive than any other CF bulb?

we have these in my house (rented), the landlord provides the bulbs though so not a problem for us. 

Presumably people moving into newer houses are just spending a couple of quid per fitting to change them all back to 2 pin ones? (Unless they prefer spending £8 per bulb about twice a year!) 

Who exactly is going to 'police' this anyway? (Unless living in local authority/housing association/rented accomodation that are liable to being checked?)

Ah, but if you tamper with a Part P fitting your landlord or household insurance is invalid.

They certainly aren't ten times safer.  Its just a load of money making jibberish which has filtered its way from the safety capital of Brussels, grrrrrr.

Oh yes, "the landlord provides them", what a great response.  So its ok if his profits are affected then????

My point, there is nothing wrong with the current CF's, trouble is they are lasting longer and the volume bought has dropped, especially seeing as most energy suppliers have been giving them away.  How can you generate extra cash, oh yes make it a legal requirement for new builds and rental properties to have these "safe" lamps fitted. Pure tosh.

I bought a box of 25 100 watt bulbs before they were withdrawn from sale, so I shall be ok for a few years.

The problem with the modern low energy bulbs, is they can't be used with a dimmer, and I have dimmers. 

chudleighpaul:

I bought a box of 25 100 watt bulbs before they were withdrawn from sale...

When did that happen? I bought four 2 pin CF bulbs just a couple of days ago and there were acres of them! (Nor were there any signs or warnings or any other indication that sale of 2 pin bulbs will cease.)

In fact the 'old fashioned' incandescent filament bulbs were still on sale too. 

Open your eye's!!!! LOL

The 100 watt incandescent bulbs were withdrawn last year. It is still possible to get 60 watt and lower.

True Blue:

Oh yes, "the landlord provides them", what a great response.  So its ok if his profits are affected then????

i'm not saying it is ok if his profits are effected, if they are at all.   but it was his choice to install these fittings, no one made him do it. i had never even seen or heard of these bulbs before i moved into the house.

He also supplies hoover bags, a kettle, toaster and microwave, also his choice, clearly he would rather be a nice person than maximise profits.

chudleighpaul:

I bought a box of 25 100 watt bulbs before they were withdrawn from sale, so I shall be ok for a few years.

The problem with the modern low energy bulbs, is they can't be used with a dimmer, and I have dimmers. 

they certainly can be used with dimmers, i have them on dimmer and they work perfectly well! maybe your dimmer switch isnt functioning correctly?

reggaedave:

Open your eye's!!!! LOL

You mean the Illuminati are responsible for the Gregg Wallace apostrophe?

I have a dimmer switch in my lounge and an energy saving bulb wont work on it.  It just pulsates dimly when the switch is off.

I think that you can now buy special bulbs that do work with dimmers.  Also, when I last looked into this there was a difference with using a rotatory knob type dimmer and an 'electronic' one. I have the electronic kind.