Who You Callin' a Tater Tot?

Having had good success with Ecosmart bulbs from Home Depot in the past, I decided to give them another try. I picked up four 2-packs of Ecosmart Fan Soft White CFL Bulbs to try as replacements for the incandescents currently in the ceiling fans of our kids' rooms. Total cost: $39.88

Now that's a pretty good investment, so I decided to hedge my bets before I opened all the packages and replaced all the bulbs. First, I took all the bulbs out of one ceiling fan, nearly incurring third-degree burns from the white-hot glass. I probably should've waited a second or two. Nonetheless, while taking care not to rupture the painful blisters that now covered my fingers, I opened one of the CFL packages and screwed them into the fixture. With baited breath, I hit the switch.


The two CFL bulbs flooded the room with bright light. I couldn't believe it! The new bulbs were 60-watt equivalent and the difference between them and the 40-watt incandescents really showed. My wife and daughter were ecstatic, so I opened a second package and installed the remaining two bulbs. That room was so bright you could have conducted an old fashioned "good cop/bad cop" interrogation in there!

We scored a perfect hat trick: the rooms was brightly lit, the bulbs were sucking only a third of the energy, and we were no longer baking like tater tots beneath warmers in a school cafeteria.