[vina]

Originally Posted by carboy

I guess it would be the opposite. Mukesh Ambani can afford the extra cost of the CFL (as compared to the filament bulbs) for whatever reasons. But for the common man, CFL is pretty expensive.

that's what I meant - ambani would lose more money pondering such questions (and pondering some other questions) than he will ever save. So if the guys writing the comments are rich - they just don't care.

Originally Posted by carboy

And I am not angry with CFL - they have their place. I am angry with people who advocate banning filament bulbs.



I wasn't under the misconception that Tubelights would be banned. I was referring to Filament bulbs. It would be silly to ban Filament bulbs. I don't see any reason to ban filament bulbs.

filament bulbs may be banned - but then who knows? The manufacturing of filament lamps is still done very primitively and is very injurios to workers' health. CFLs OTOH are made in fully automated plants - workers are safe, at least until the CFLs are dumped into regular garbage and the mercury leaches into the water table.

Originally Posted by carboy

But for place like a small bathroom or toilet, it may be difficult to fit a tube light. So what do you use there?

short tubelight (I think 2feet long usually). A lot of old shops used it and you cna get one from a hardware store relatively easily.

[ghpk]

Originally Posted by amohit

What do you guys have to say about T5 tube-lights vs CFL?

I was somehow convinced that T5 (28W) is many times better than normal T8(40W) tube-light.

Regards,

Yes, they not only are slimmer, smarter, but also saves on bill
below image shows it how

Source

[amohit]

Originally Posted by ghpk

Yes, they not only are slimmer, smarter, but also saves on bill

What about the upfront cost? What about the actual running life of them? Do they also come with a catch like that for CFL (where the life of CFL depends on the number of on-off operations)?

Regards,

[NPV]

Folks,
Need your help on finalising a convection microwave oven.
Needs from the MWO:
-Re-heating
-Low calorie food cooking/grilling, browning
-Baking cookies, cakes (Basic)
-Pizzas
-Presets for various indian dishes (preferred)
We've been postponing buying the MWO the past 2 years since we wanted to save up and buy a really good convection type model. The time has come now and just when we thought we know what we want, some doubts have crept in.
The model we're considering on buying is LG's MC-8188HRC (31 litre capacity with drop down door)...MRP is Rs.20,600 and offer price is Rs.18,300
1.Is it worth paying so much for the features it offers ? (151 auto cook menu, multi cook, dual fans for quicker & even heating among other things)
2.Is the baking quality good compared with a regular oven ?
3.The oven cavity in LG ovens is stainless steel unlike Samsung that uses enamel. The net is full of contradicting views on SS vs enamel :(
4.In terms of power I found this model has much more power (2500 watts) as compared with other brands like Samsung who make similar models with these features

Any help/suggestions welcome and hoping you will talk to your wives in case you don't have subject matter expertise (unlike cars) - no offence !

[vina]

Originally Posted by NPV

Folks,
Need your help on finalising a convection microwave oven.
Needs from the MWO:
-Re-heating
-Low calorie food cooking/grilling, browning
-Baking cookies, cakes (Basic)
-Pizzas
-Presets for various indian dishes (preferred)
We've been postponing buying the MWO the past 2 years since we wanted to save up and buy a really good convection type model. The time has come now and just when we thought we know what we want, some doubts have crept in.
The model we're considering on buying is LG's MC-8188HRC (31 litre capacity with drop down door)...MRP is Rs.20,600 and offer price is Rs.18,300
1.Is it worth paying so much for the features it offers ? (151 auto cook menu, multi cook, dual fans for quicker & even heating among other things)
2.Is the baking quality good compared with a regular oven ?
3.The oven cavity in LG ovens is stainless steel unlike Samsung that uses enamel. The net is full of contradicting views on SS vs enamel :(
4.In terms of power I found this model has much more power (2500 watts) as compared with other brands like Samsung who make similar models with these features

Any help/suggestions welcome and hoping you will talk to your wives in case you don't have subject matter expertise (unlike cars) - no offence !

In my experience, convestion MW doesn't even come close to a proper convection oven - my suggestion get a simple non-convection MW + a proper gas oven (or electric oven)

For re-heating kind of stuff even a small Rs. 3k MW will suffice, and the rest of the money can buy you a good proper oven.

The only catch is space combo saves space, with the above suggestion you may need more space.


Between SS and enamel there is no argument - go for SS.

As far as preset menus are concerned - don't pay extra for them - they are practically useless thingies. Even heating is not a feature - it is a requirement (otherwise you can have food that is burnt some place and undercooked elsewhere); for MW heating is generally uniform by design (cavity design as well as the turntable make it uniform), for convection MW, the convection oven is never uniform - that is why I suggest you buy a good gas oven.

[madbullram]

I concur with Vina. We have the same type and my wife ended up buying another oven baking etc as it just doesnt do that job well.

[thenomad]

Originally Posted by NPV

Folks,
Needs from the MWO:
-Re-heating
-Low calorie food cooking/grilling, browning
-Baking cookies, cakes (Basic)
-Pizzas
-Presets for various indian dishes (preferred)

I'd second Vina's suggestion. I was in the same dilemma couple of months back and got a Samsung GW73BD (MW + Grill), though the grill isn't used 95% of the time. Couple of shops I visited in Hyderabad didn't carry a M/W only model for the design my wife and I liked, and the grill option was only a couple of hundreds more.

I do also have a convection M/W at my parents and we have a conventional oven too. The cakes made with the conventional oven are much better than the one with convection M/W. So when its baking time, its mostly the conventional oven. Buying separately you can save couple of thousands too.

[Aroy]

I also suggest go for two different ovens

. MW for heating and small cooking. Any inexpensive model will do as long as it is large enough to take you cooking vessels.
. Gas cocking range with burners on the top and oven for baking at the bottom, roasting and other heavy duty cooking.

I have a 7 year old (or may be older) Samsung MW with grill. The grill was used only a couple of times, when the oven was new. For the type of dishes we prefer - tikkas and roasts, heating from bottom is preferred. What we use the MW for is primarily reheating of food.

For all baking tasks we a have a gas cooking range with a 2' x 2' x 1.5' oven Nothing beats the gas oven for cooking. In MW the time required is directly proportionate to the mass, so you have to estimate the cooking time perfectly, where as in a gas oven the cooking is time based and does not matter if you have a 1kg chicken or a 3kg one.

Yes my wife did try rice, idlis and cakes in the MW, but gave it up as the conventional method are better for large batches - we have two 25+ old sons and tend to consume large quantities of food!

What I have found is that MW is excellent for small quantities, like one papad at a time, and is perfect for bachelors who do not need to cook family sized meals.

[mav2000]

Hi guys. Am looking for a video door phone for my home. I live in a duplex flat and I need the phone to be upstairs. Also need it to unlock the door from the phone unit. I have spoken to Eureka till now, but am a bit confused. Any other brands that you guys have used till date?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I switched back to incandescent bulbs in all places where switching on/off more than 4 times a day is involved.

I do wish the manufacturers make separate bulbs & the electronic circuitry involved in CFL lamps.

We discarded the slim tube lights long back. The 2-3 tube lights we have here are switched on at around 6PM and stay on till we sleep. ANd we have changed less than 10 in all in about 25 years. OTOH, we have changed around 15 CFLs in less than 3 years we began to use them. (around 8 in all in current use - it used to 12 or so) Eco-friendliness is not about power consumption alone. It is also about what happens to the waste, and what goes into the manufacturing process.

That said, has anyone tried LED bulbs yet? Quite a few are listed between 300 and 500 per pair on ebay. How does the power on/off cycle affect LEDs life?

mav2000 - cannot give you a name right away. I do recall seeing some company on the web some months back. The name started with "Z", and IIRC, pune based.

[vina]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

...

That said, has anyone tried LED bulbs yet? Quite a few are listed between 300 and 500 per pair on ebay. How does the power on/off cycle affect LEDs life?

....

from a technical perspective - anybody who has a phone is already using a white LED lamp (i.e. the backlight of the LCD display)

More seriously - there is no on/off issue with LEDs AFAIK and the lifetime is LONG. The biggest problem is cost - LEDs don't come cheap and (again technology wise) there is nothing on the near term (i.e. 5-10yrs) that can make them cheap.

But overall they probably will turn out cheaper if you have to replace CFLs so often. Plus LEDs are real energy savers, Lumen/Watt is huge.

[sgiitk]

Regarding the M/W oven story. We have used gas cooking ranges since 1977 (there used to be a brand K Chef then) and for baking they are excellent. I gotr my first microwave c.1988 (Sharp 500W), and changed to an LG M/W + grill in 2000 or so. We use the grill a lot for cheese toast and the like. It is an Infrared (Quartz) grill so heats up in a jiffy. It is much quicker than the gas grill.

Baking is best done in the Gas Range.

If you go for a microwave + grill make sure the grill is infrared (quartz).

[sdp1975]

Anyone using induction cookers - are they cheaper than using gas ? I mean unsubsidized gas - not the subsidized cooking cylinder from govt.

Looks like LPG refills may cost more soon, and i was thinking of switching over to an induction cooker.

Soon, LPG refills may cost you Rs 800 - The Times of India

[omishra]

I used these CFL's, mounted vertically. holder cost Rs.100, local brand Gelco and tube cost Rs.70, Crompton 11W. Mounted vertically as shown. In last 8 years replaced each tube once and couple of twice. It was Mar 2003 when installed and replacement started after 2006. So average life is approx. 3-5 years.

[vina]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Anyone using induction cookers - are they cheaper than using gas ? I mean unsubsidized gas - not the subsidized cooking cylinder from govt.

Looks like LPG refills may cost more soon, and i was thinking of switching over to an induction cooker.

Soon, LPG refills may cost you Rs 800 - The Times of India

I don't think it will be substantially cheaper, induction heating is not particularly efficient and electricity is not particularly cheap (unless you are stealing it)

But there are other practical problems too - in case of a power cut you still have your LPG, I don't think you would be too inclined to run the inverter/generator for keeping the induction heater on.