I know they are cooler than the “equivalent lumens” incandescent bulb, but are they also cooler than an incandescent with the same wattage?
I have ceiling “can” spotlights that give off too little light. But they are marked “do not exceed 60watts”. I presume that’s because the bulb socket is plastic instead of ceramic and would melt at high heat.
So if I replace my 60w-900 lumen incandescent bulb with a 36w-2400 lumen fluorescent, will I overheat the fixture?
The term ‘coolness’ refers to the color temperature on the Kelvin scale, not the physical temperature of the light producing apparatus. An F40 T12 can be had in CW-Cool White, WW-Warm White, and other color temperatures.
Regarding the cans, the ‘do not exceed’ wattage is based largely on the ability of the can to give off heat into the surrounding building structure. For situations where you’d like more light, changing to a biaxial or compact fluorescent is reasonable. If you can identify the manufacturer and model of can, a listing of acceptable lamping options can be had.
Yes. But only slightly.
“Wattage” means power consumption, i.e. how much electrical energy it consumes every second. The consumed energy turns into visible light, infrared light and heating of the surrounding fixture and air. Visible light won’t harm lighting fixtures, but infrared and heat can.
I don’t know the actual efficiencies, but let’s say incandescent bulbs have 5% efficiency. That means a 60W/900-lumen incandescent bulb turns 3W of energy into visible light and 57W into heat into heat (infrared + conduction + hot air). A 36W/2400-lumen light generates 2.7 times as much light, so that’s 28W worth of heat and 8W worth of light.
No, I don’t think it would cause any problems.
Disclaimer: I’m a scientist and not an electrician; there’s a tiny chance I’m missing some practical consideration.
I don’t think so.
Watts are a measure of energy - joules per second. So if a light bulb takes in 60 watts, it has only 60 watts to release, as a combination of heat and light. An incandescent is releasing most of those 60 watts as heat, but a fluorescent is releasing somewhat less heat and somewhat more light. The heat energy and light energy have to come from somewhere, so if a bulb is releasing more light (than another of the same wattage), it must then be releasing less heat. A 60 watt fluorescent, then, is gonna be cooler.
Correct me if I’m wrong, anyone, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got no troubles here. 36 watt fluorescent bulbs shouldn’t release much heat at all. Go for it.
(And danceswithcats: while it’s true that most fluorescents are cooler in color than incandescents, the OP was talking about temperature.)
I assume that your principal interest was in the heat aspect of the lamps and not the color temperature.
The fixtures rated at 60w maximum is to prevent excess heat from creating a fire hazard, and secondarily from causing damage to a plastic socket and consequent fire hazard.
** No **, the 36w (sprial?) fluorescent generates only 60% as much heat as a 60w incandescent lamp.
I have installed two two-bulb flush mount ceiling fixtures rated at 120w (2-60w bulbs) and installed two 16w spiral fluorexcents in one and two 36w in the other. Both fixtures will run cooler than if they had incancescent lamps bulbs.
Well, it’s a matter of personal opinion. But, if you ask me, a long glass tube that fairly efficiently produces heaps of white light when you apply a voltage as compared to a thing that just gets hot till it glows?
Fluorescents are way cooler.
those spiral flourescent bulbs and not burn yourself. I defy anyone to do that with an incandesent of the same wattage.
You know flourescents are a lot more efficient because you get a lot more light for the same amount of energy. A lot of energy is wasted as heat with normal light bulbs.