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Incandescent bulb vs Compact Fluorescent some basic questions

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Dr Zero:
Now let me preface this by saying I know there are other options like LED what I'm really wanting to about is CFL.

The big push is to go green and such there is not many regular bulbs around but I have some questions.

You have a socket that is rated for a 60 watt bulb if I understand why its because of the heat generated by the 60 watt bulb. The 60 watt sockets are generally made of better/heavier materials.

Now with CFL only using like 15 watts and putting out the equivalent of 60 does the rating of the socket kind of become a moot point?

I mean if the socket is rated for 40 watts could you use a 60 watt CFL without issues?

Or for that what about a 100 watt equivalent CFL? As long as you keep the over all real used watts under the rating of the socket would you be ok?

So what does everyone think?

ahofle:
I will answer this based on my own personal experience.  A while back I used the exact same logic as you and put a 100 watt 'equivalent' CFL in a 60W max ceiling socket (the ones that have two sockets in the same fixture).  Well a while went by and for some reason I had to take off the fixture and to my horror the insulation on the wires of the neighboring light socket was almost completely corroded off, exposing bare wire in a couple spots.  I'm lucky it didn't cause a fire.  So I think the rating is based on heat as much as anything.  Be careful!

Ginsu Victim:

--- Quote from: Dr Zero on July 17, 2009, 08:23:58 pm ---The big push is to go green and such there is not many regular bulbs around but I have some questions.

--- End quote ---

Buy 'em up now, because come 2012, you can't buy the incandescent bulbs in the US anymore. Stupid "go green" ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---....

MonMotha:
In general, there are two reasons for the ratings on lamp fixtures.  One is how much electrical power can be safely delivered to the socket.  This is usually not a big deal.  The other is due to heat generation.  This is often a big deal.  A 60W light bulb gets REALLY hot.

If you're putting a CFL into a fixture that says "60W max", you can put an actual 60W CFL in there if you want to (and it'll be REALLY bright compared to what you had before).  This doesn't mean a 60W "equivalent" (13W lamp) device, but an actual 60W device.  A 60W CFL will have brightness comparable to like a 250W incandescent.

I actually did this in a bathroom/dressing area fixture.  The fixture originally had a 60W spot lamp in it, and the fixture was only rated for 60W.  However, that wasn't enough light, so I installed a full spectrum 23W (100W equivalent) CFL.  Lots more light and uses less electricity to boot!

EwJ:

--- Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 17, 2009, 08:55:51 pm ---
--- Quote from: Dr Zero on July 17, 2009, 08:23:58 pm ---The big push is to go green and such there is not many regular bulbs around but I have some questions.

--- End quote ---

Buy 'em up now, because come 2012, you can't buy the incandescent bulbs in the US anymore. Stupid "go green" ---smurf-poop---....

--- End quote ---

Go green ---my bottom---.  CFL have mercury, no?

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