I did something really stupid though, looking back on it now!, I ran a de-luxe, 125watt MV lamp in a standard British table lamp, on a small shelf in the corner of my living room, (with the ballast conveniently mounted under the shelf).

It lit the room perfectly, with just enough light and little glare, with its shade on.
I wrongly thought the heat from the lamp would just convect through the open bottom and top of the shade, harmlessly passing the, (quite high heat from a 125 MV), over the elliptical shape of the bulb. I didn`t figure however, the glass temp, and the distance from the side of the shade, (that I thought was ample)!, turns out it cooked it, to the point that smoke started to come off it one night, (luckily, VERY LUCKILY, just as I came back in the room from upstairs to see it)!!!

Owww..!Ye gods, you came close there..!  

Not lighting related, but years ago when I was still living with my parents, I had a 2-bar electric heater in my bedroom. One evening, I left the room to go and make a coffee and came back to find my bed well alight and the room filled with smoke  

Apparently, I had left the heater just ever-so-slightly too close to the bed, and the bedclothes had caught alight..! If I'd been in bed asleep at the time, I wouldn't have woken up  

I went on holiday for a week in Llandudno, North Wales, leaving the gas fire on in the living room, the front door unlocked, and when we got there, I found I`d left the keys to the caravan, (that was locked onto the back of the car with us), on the kitchen table at home!

I went on holiday for a week in Llandudno, North Wales, leaving the gas fire on in the living room, the front door unlocked, and when we got there, I found I`d left the keys to the caravan, (that was locked onto the back of the car with us), on the kitchen table at home!

Ha..! I was at the airport checking in for a flight home from San Francisco a few years ago, and I couldn't find my passport..! I rang the friends I had been staying with and yes, as I thought, it was still on the kitchen table..! They had a VERY quick drive out to drop it off, I'm glad they didn't get a speeding ticket 

We moved into our new build house over the Christmas holidays of 2014. Our first full day in the house may have even been 1JAN15. At any rate, the builder put in the cheapest CFL's they could source, and I particularly hated the CFL flood lights they dropped into the recessed cans. (The ones that take 2 hours to fully light up.) So over the next 6 weeks I began the process of retrofitting all the lights in the house to LED. The higher end ones were still a little on the expensive side, so I started with the fixtures we used the most, and then worked my way down to the least used fixtures like the second guest room closet. We run about 99% with minimal problems. The only alternative sources we run are due to the nature of their function, i.e., the microwave, convection oven, wax warmers, and the 55W SOX fixture that serves as a night light in the garage. So as we reach the 5 year mark, I can only recall ever having to replace one LED bulb, and it was one of the 2$ ones from Walmart sold under the Great Value brand. We have a good mix of brands, and I really like the Philips SeceneSwitch line, which several of our fans and hanging lights have. I also really love our Utilitech NightGlow retrofits which took the place of the CFLs in the cans. These have a night light function halo ring which puts out the perfect amount of light for watching movies, or navigating around the living room and kitchen late at night. I have been most impressed with our LED landscape lighting. I have had 0 issues. It is somewhat of a mix, with most of it being Intermatic brand, but we also have a fair bit of Hampton Bay.

Our house is mostly "converted". In our case, that means all CFLs are history. I never liked CFLs.
We did not do LED for savings, as I don't buy that. And, according to the wife (she's the CFO) she hasn't noticed the electric bill changing at all (our house was 90% incan when we bought it in '12).
We got these LED recessed can retros that solved a problem the cans in our vaulted ceiling had: they are unsealed and there's no attic access. They were drafty around the BR40 bulbs and sometimes a wasp or bee would fall down in the winter. The LED retros are sealed and gasketed so they solve that issue, and was our primary reason to get them.
In our bathroom when we remodeled, we used those flat LEDs that look like a recessed can but are only 1" deep because there was HVAC ducting right behind the drywall where we wanted to install can lighting.
The other LED bulbs I have are either bright as hell (CREE PAR38 1600L for ex) or interesting as hell (clear "Switch" A shaped LED bulbs).

The rest of our lighting is incan, and theres a SBMV over the fooseball table.

I don't mind LEDs, but I also don't buy the hype over them, they have their uses but I highly doubt they are "green" due to the manufacturing process and the fact many LED lights are now integrated fixtures. The entire fixture needs to be disposed of when the LED fails, and we all know it is somewhat likely they'll fail prematurely.

I don't mind LEDs, but I also don't buy the hype over them, they have their uses but I highly doubt they are "green" due to the manufacturing process and the fact many LED lights are now integrated fixtures. The entire fixture needs to be disposed of when the LED fails, and we all know it is somewhat likely they'll fail prematurely.

Can't help but agree. We fitted lots of LED's 2 or 3 years ago after getting them (mostly) free from a friend who ran a lighting shop. Most of them have failed now and we're using halogens, which I've always preferred over CFL's, although I do have a box of those in reserve that my mum got sent for free from British Gas about 10 years ago.

I agree about the integrated fixtures as well, we have a floor standing reading lamp at one end of the sofa that's like that. It's ok, but (a) it's not going  to last forever and (b) it's got a touch-sensitive on/off switch, which sometimes totally ignores the fact that one or the other of us has been prodding it for 5 minutes and are on the point of doing a Photon and saying "Where's me 'ammer..?"   

This is quite Interesting, and as an update, I have now got a total of 38 led lamps, and two led road lanterns in full time use at home, and haven't had a SINGLE one fail yet. What make were the ones you have had fail out of interest?

This is quite Interesting, and as an update, I have now got a total of 38 led lamps, and two led road lanterns in full time use at home, and haven't had a SINGLE one fail yet. What make were the ones you have had fail out of interest?

Not sure to be honest, they were mostly unboxed ones that might very well have been used before we got them. A friend used to run a shop, as I said, and he gave us a load of them. I do have one 6W one still left in the bedroom that I bought for a quid from Maplins about 6 or 7 years ago, and that is still going strong, although I've noticed it start to flicker a little occasionally, so it is probably on the way out.

I have one led lamp in the entire house. The rest are either 72w screw-in halogen or Dollar Store 100w 130v lamps. In the kitchen is one F30T12RS 2-lamp fixture under the cabinets, an F20T12 preheat fixture (with F17T8 lamp) over the sink, and an electronic F15T8 under another cabinet. The screw-in halogen lamps are nice but blow out quickly. So far no failures with the dollar store bulbs.

My house is mostly lit by Feit LED bulbs too, except for my magnetic ballasted fluorescent fixtures in the garage. I had to keep those!

We're in the process of converting our home back to traditional light sources. 

I've made a list of every single socket in use in the house. Ceiling lights, table lamps, floor lamps, porch lights, security lights, etc. With a range of incandescents from 25, 40, 60 and 100W.

If all of them were ON 24/7, for the Northern California rates, I'd have to pay close to $2800 a year.

I've replaced them all with high CRI 3000K Cree LEDs matching the lumen rating of the old incandescent for their fixture and purpose. If all of these were ON 24/7, I'd now pay close to $350.
That's a difference of about $2450.

I know this is the extreme end of the spectrum and no one leaves everything on all day, but it gives perspective. Two grand plus is a lot of money.
Now to make it a bit more realistic, the two radial waves outside both burn a 150W incandescent from dusk to dawn (~10 hours/day) everyday. In one year that's close to $200 I'll pay to PG&E for the privilege of watching a filament burn. If I switch over to LEDs, say, 20W per bulb to match the desired lumen output of 150W, that's $30. Thirty dollars. With the $170 difference in my pocket, I can treat myself to a nice meal, put gas in the car and go cruise or whatever I fancy.

However, I know this is a lighting hobby community, and like every other hobby, people blow money in it to make themselves happy. I'm aware that I'm spending an extra $170 a year for the privilege of having incandescents in period fixtures. That's my hobby, my money and how I chose to spend it. But for everyone else who are not into lighting but curious about choices and expenses, this site is a nice resource with insanely intelligent and knowledgeable users, when they are being reasonable and explain both sides without bias or false leads.

I've made a list of every single socket in use in the house. Ceiling lights, table lamps, floor lamps, porch lights, security lights, etc. With a range of incandescents from 25, 40, 60 and 100W.

If all of them were ON 24/7, for the Northern California rates, I'd have to pay close to $2800 a year.

I've replaced them all with high CRI 3000K Cree LEDs matching the lumen rating of the old incandescent for their fixture and purpose. If all of these were ON 24/7, I'd now pay close to $350.
That's a difference of about $2450.

I know this is the extreme end of the spectrum and no one leaves everything on all day, but it gives perspective. Two grand plus is a lot of money.
Now to make it a bit more realistic, the two radial waves outside both burn a 150W incandescent from dusk to dawn (~10 hours/day) everyday. In one year that's close to $200 I'll pay to PG&E for the privilege of watching a filament burn. If I switch over to LEDs, say, 20W per bulb to match the desired lumen output of 150W, that's $30. Thirty dollars. With the $170 difference in my pocket, I can treat myself to a nice meal, put gas in the car and go cruise or whatever I fancy.

However, I know this is a lighting hobby community, and like every other hobby, people blow money in it to make themselves happy. I'm aware that I'm spending an extra $170 a year for the privilege of having incandescents in period fixtures. That's my hobby, my money and how I chose to spend it. But for everyone else who are not into lighting but curious about choices and expenses, this site is a nice resource with insanely intelligent and knowledgeable users, when they are being reasonable and explain both sides without bias or false leads.

That's a fair and reasoned post Miles, thank you 

We are going the other way, we did try LED's, as a friend used to run a lighting shop and gave us a lot of them either free or very cheap, but we've decided to buck the trend and go LED-free. All our lights are now back to incandescent, apart from a 28W 2D fitting in the bathroom (and another one about to go up in the kitchen). The only LED left is a bulkhead in the cupboard where our gas and electricity meters are, that will be replaced in due course.

Oh, and there's an LED floor lamp next to the sofa which will be replaced when we get a post to put our Gamma 6 SOX lantern on 

We're not going away on holiday this year, we're spending our money on lamps and the electricity to run them 

I also replaced all of the incandescent lamps in my house with high CRI LEDs, and they really have great brightness and color rendering. The electricity bill also went down by 100KWH or about $10.

That's a fair and reasoned post Miles, thank you 

We are going the other way, we did try LED's, as a friend used to run a lighting shop and gave us a lot of them either free or very cheap, but we've decided to buck the trend and go LED-free. All our lights are now back to incandescent, apart from a 28W 2D fitting in the bathroom (and another one about to go up in the kitchen). The only LED left is a bulkhead in the cupboard where our gas and electricity meters are, that will be replaced in due course.

Oh, and there's an LED floor lamp next to the sofa which will be replaced when we get a post to put our Gamma 6 SOX lantern on 

We're not going away on holiday this year, we're spending our money on lamps and the electricity to run them 

There are times when I want incandescent back, that extra bit of warmth that isn't present with LEDs. The high CRI 2700K are still off to me, they're just not quite there. And the high CRI 3000K work great, but dimming is ghostly, and I don't see any "warm glow" dimmable LEDs in high CRI, 3000K models. Lastly, my OCD likes light from glass, and plastic is eeeehhh...
However most of my fixtures are globes, shades or covered lamps. So I don't have to see the typical LED half-dome design.