You might have just bought (or are looking into buying) those swirly Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. (Shame on you if you haven’t already! Just kidding, of course.) They are supposed to last around ten times longer than an ordinary incandescent lightbulb, and because they don’t use heat to produce light, they are all the more efficient.

photo credit: Velo Steve

This is good for the environment. This is good for your wallet. And it means you don’t have to go through the work of throwing out as many bulbs! But, you may notice them dying, or having some bizarre quirks. Here are some tips to make them as normal as possible.

After you first install your CFL bulb, make sure you keep it on for at least twenty minutes. I would explain it, but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be technically correct, and I hate geeks pointing these trivial things out: leaving it on for twenty minutes allows the ions in the gas to charge fully. This means that subsequently, you won’t have to wait to have the lightbulb charge to full power.

Secondly, on-off cycles kill CFL bulbs — so leave them on for at least fifteen minutes! This might seem counter-intuitive, but they’re super-efficient anyway — keeping them on for another extra ten minutes won’t cost you as much as replacing the bulb! (These bulbs are quite heavy on the wallet initially, but they do pay themselves off — if you can make them last.)

So make them last! Enjoy your CFL bulbs.