I have a canned light over my shower. I would like to put a heat lamp in that spot. Could I just buy a heat light bulb and stick it in there, or would that cause a problem? Do I actually have to buy a special light fixture?
I just picked up a new heat lamp bulb yesterday, matter of fact, the one I found is a 230W bulb. Look at your fixture and it should have a rating for how high of a wattage bulb you can put in there, but generally regular fixtures won’t handle a heat lamp.
No. You’ll need to have a special fixture installed designed to handle and dissipate the heat. Most typical recessed lighting fixtures are only meant to handle 60-75 watts, and will be labeled as such somewhere on the unit. Heat lamps, on the other hand, tend to draw in the range of 200-350 watts.
The enclosures for heat lamps are made to handle the extra generated heat and using an infrared bulb in a regular fixture is a fire hazard. Purchase a new fixture or do without.
Thanks, it’s always a good idea to post the same information again about twelve hours later, in case the OP missed it the first time.