Money Saving?

[nads75]

Can anyone tell me whether it is more expensive to leave a light switched on for 10 mins or to keep knocking it on and off? I remeber being told that is cheaper to leave it on wheras my partner is constantly knocking lights off to save money only for me to knock them back on again.

Nads

[brachiopod]

What type of lighting is it?

Tungsten bulbs basically cost the same no matter how long (or short) you run them.

Fluorescant 'bulbs' (tubes) use a lot of electricity to start off, but then use less than tungsten bulbs in the long run.

It's roughly along the lines that if you switch a fluorescent tube off and then turn it on again within about twenty minutes, you would use roughly about the same amount of electricity as if you had leftit on for that time.

For a tungsten bulb - turn it off whenever you can !!

[stanleyman]

Change to energy efficient lamps, they are so cheap to use. It isn't quite true that fluorescent lamps and most other devices for that matter use a lot of electricity to start. Any surge current is for only milliseconds adding virtually nothing to its current consumption.

[mibn2cweus]

Both incandescent and florescent lights have tungsten filaments that are stressed by surge currents when they are first energized. Repeated reenergizing increases exposure to surge stress and risk of failure that can reduce their operating lifespan.

More info here.

[nads75]

brilliant, thankyou.

Nads