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So now what?
You've clearly seen the cost savings associated with a
transfer to LED lighting. You have the quote in hand
and the bulbs are on their way according the inventory list
you provided. Once they arrive, for everything but
fluorescents, the installation is pretty straight forward as
the LED lights are built to exactly fit existing
incandescent or CFL fixtures. That's the beauty
of the spot and general lighting LED bulbs. They're
ready to go. You basically screw them in and start to
save from minute one. If you have a significant number
of bulbs to replace, you can either use existing labor to
change the bulbs or hire electrical help on a contract
basis. Keep in mind that you would need to switch out
the existing incandescent bulbs anyway especially since they
burn out in 1200 to 2500 hours on average or every 241 days
assuming 10 hours a day usage. We're just making the
switch all at one time and these bulbs will likely last for
years.
Installation is pretty
simple for these types of bulbs. Also keep in mind
that the breakage is significantly lower (if non-existent)
for new LED lights. Incandescents and CFL's have
a much higher breakage percentage with some estimate up to
20% for large batch orders. LED's are solid state
devices which means they are electronic components made of
solid materials without moving parts and/or vacuum tubes.
Of course, we have a system to handle the small percentage
of LED's that might arrive inoperable. We'll get a
replacement out immediately and manage the return of damaged
arrivals. Again, one big strength of LED's is a
significant reduction in such an event.
Fluorescents require one
more step for installation. Existing fluorescent
strips have a ballast. The ballast is essentially the
fixture that the tubes go into. It's a specialized
fixture made exclusively to power the fluorescent tubes.
Coincidentally, the ballasts require electricity as well as
the actual light which is another drain on electricity and a
further cost to you. These ballasts are no longer
needed with LED lights so there is a cost and requirement to
remove them so that the LED strip goes directly to the power
source. The labor costs is more than outweighed by the
resulting power savings not to mention bulb replacement
savings both in terms of replacement bulbs and the labor to
switch them out on a much more regular basis.
Keep any bulbs that may
be defective to return for a replacement. On average,
you can expect 2% of the new bulbs will not work properly
versus roughly 20% of the incandescent/fluorescent bulbs
currently in use. Ultimately, defective bulbs at
installation will be replaced but that's 10 times the labor
required not to mention the downtime while waiting for
replacement bulbs to arrive.
You can of course do the
installation in phases or even as existing bulbs fail but
you also delay the significant savings attributed to
switching out bulbs to LED's. The savings starts the
first second you actually put in the bulb since it's purely
a function of watts going into the light and LED's use
considerably less wattage. There should be no issues
with shelving LED lights in a dry, secure storage location
as they are Solid State by design. Of course, we're
hear to help you with guidance and questions along the way.
We especially love to hear about the first 1-2 months of
changes in the electric bill. Get use to the extra
savings. You have years more coming.
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