These new spiral shaped fluorescent light bulbs.....I have a question about......?

Question

Say they give off the same light as a 100 watt light, but only use 40 watts to do it. Is it safe to use these bulbs in lamps that say "do not exceed 60 watts" in this lamp socket? I think it is the heat given off which is the reason they limit you to 60 watts, but not sure. I could use the extra lumens, but don't want to burn the house down either. Is it ok to use these fluorescent bulbs to produce more light, without worrying about this 60 watt limit?

Answer 1

By definition they can't give off more watts of heat than they use in watts of electricity. So if the package says it uses 15W, then it's only equivalent to a 15W bulb in terms of heat, regardless of how much light it claims to put out.

Answer 2

Yes, it is all about the heat. But even so, your flourescent which consumes only 40 watts and is well within the rating of your 60 watt lamp. The 100 watt figure represents the amount of power an incandescent would use to produce an equivalent amount of light and means nothing to the lamp.

WK

Answer 3

Good question. Fluorescent lights give off less heat. You might want to check with the bulb manufacture to find out exactly how much heat they give off for a specific amount of light.

Answer 4

I believe you can because of the less power consumption means less heat produced which means safer operation of your lamp.

Just my opinion

Test it by TOUCHING a 100 watt regular light after its on 5 minutes, and then do the same for the spiral light.

Answer 5

Your logic is flawless. Yes, it is the heat produced that is the limit for those light fixtures, not the amount of lumens produced. Good thinking!

Answer 6

You are correct about the heat. We replaced some of our bulbs with the curly ones, and have had no problems.
Good luck!