Ultra Mini Spiral Lamp (Flourescent) Question (Not PC related)

[sdkfz]

I bought a whole bunch of these 60 watt light output but using only 14 watts of power light bulbs, at Home Depot and have been replacing the builder installed lightbulbs all over the house. Some fixtures are 60 watt bulbs so no problem there - but I just opened one with a warning lable saying use only 40 watts max (which the builder had two 60's in)!

My question is: Since these only use 14 watts am I OK putting them in a fully enclosed ceiling mounted fixture that has a 40 watt max or even a 25 watt max for that matter (got two of those two). Am I correct in assuming that the issue is heat generation? While these little spirals do get warm they are no where as hot as incandescent.

The thing I like about these is they put out a better light (I think), will cut my lighting bill (package claims by 46.00 a bulb per year at 10 cents per kilowatt hour, my rates are lower though) and best of all last 7 years.

Thanks

[Hi Ho]

I've been using those lights for years. I don't think I have any regular light bulbs left. If it only uses 14 watts then I would think you could put it in any fixture that accepts 14+ watts. I use them in everything from recessed celing fixtures to table lamps, to outdoor floodlights. I have never had any issues.

[Redfallon]

They won't produce the heat of a +40 watt incandescent, and that's what the rating is really about. You can use it with no probs as Hi Ho said.

[mbossman2]

yup...heat is the key...as flourescents don't kick off a lot of heat then you are fine

[sdkfz]

Great, thanks for the help. The label on the socket was already looking a little baked from the 60 watts vs the rated 40 watts being in there, good thing it is not a light we use much.

[HAL9000]

Ya... I've slowly replaced all the bulbs in my house with those too.. not only do you save on the power... these suckers LAST. The one at my front door and two on the sides of my garage door are NEVER turned off... they've been going for 15 months now no prob... seems like I changed the regular bulbs every three months.

[Hi Ho]

Some of the flourecent bulbs in my house are 6 years old and still going. Those are in the main living area and used daily.

[Cricket]

The one at my front door and two on the sides of my garage door are NEVER turned off.How come you leave those on all the time?

:) Cricket

[rjfvillarosa]

How come you leave those on all the time?

:) Cricket

He must be affraid of the dark........ :o

[HAL9000]

How come you leave those on all the time?

:) Cricket

Never think of turning them off is why.... and the light is always on so my address can be easily seen... nothing ticks me off more then when I'm trying to find somebody's house at night and they can't even turn the light on so a person can see the addy.

Not really worried about the power issue cuz a friend of mine bought a gizmo at Canadian Tire which measures the power usage over a time period that you set. One of the 60w output bulbs uses 2 cents power over a 72 hour period... so those three bulbs use a whopping $2.43 per year. I wanna borrow one of those things to find out just how much power my computer uses.

[jeoL]

i got those spiral bulbs from home depot too, but mine seem to keep going out every few months or even weeks

[onearmpprhngr]

Those bulbs are good,I have replaced almost all the bulbs in my house with them too, with the exception of light bulbs on dimmer switches. They don't work on dimmer switched sockets, unless the switches are on full bright.

[HAL9000]

They're hard to find, but I have seen them available to work on dimmers.

[TennBikeBerk]

Certain compact flourescent bulbs will work with dimmers, but not as well as incandescents do. They are a lot pickier with their electricity.

Compact fluorescents are great. I use them everywhere I possibly can.

[sdkfz]

The ones I have say they do not work with dimmers, but I do not have any of those yet.

So far I am very happy with them, they, if nothing else, are a definite step up from the generic bulbs the builder installed. They seem to be a better spread over the visible light spectrum, but then since I am color blind to red/green and blue/green this must be taken with a block of salt!

I have to agree with HAL on the house number lighting, especially when you consider that you never know when an emergancy can happen and if the police/ambulence etc can not find you you then the lost seconds can mean all the difference.

The only complaint is that they only work to -20 degrees F and since that is not near the aveage low here in the Minneapolis area, they can not go outside, at least in the deep winter.

[HAL9000]

Umm... we get a LOT colder than -20F... it still works, IF you don't turn it off.