Is it ok to use a higher rating CFL on a lower wattage fixture?

Question

Example if your fixture is rated at 60Watt you would typically use a 13Watt Compact Fluorescent rated at 800 Lumens. Could you use a 20Watt(CFL)=75W(Bulb) or 26Watt(CFL)=100Watt(Bulb) on a 60Watt rated light fixture in order to get a brighter light? I find that the compact's are not as bright as the regular bulbs. Reason for asking is that you would not put a 100Watt bulb in a 60Watt rated fixture and wondered if the same principle applies to compact fluorescent lights.

Thanks

Answer 1

you are confused with your ratings here and why you are not supposed to put high wattage bulbs in some sockets!! some lamps and older mobile homes have flimsy materials around the lighting,, and a 100 watt bulb or higher would get too hot and cause a fire!! however,, you can put the flo bulbs in to the max your circuit breaker will allow,, because these bulbs do not put out heat!!! but as mentioned by greybeard,, you have to keep the ballast in mind too!!

Answer 2

The reason for the 60 Watt limit is heat. A regular bulb puts out a lot of heat so the size matters. As far as fluorescent light, They don't produce much heat at all. I would say it would be safe to put a '100W' fluorescent bulb in a 60W rated socket.

Answer 3

A 20 watt CFL only pulls 20 watts of power, they put the Edison bulb equivelant on there just for consumer comparison, not as technical data. We have put several 20w and 26w CFLs in fixtures rated for 60W edison bulbs and have had no problems.

Answer 4

A fluorescent light has a ballast to step up the volts to light up the gas in the bulb. Do not go above the rated wattage of the ballast.