Incandescent vs. Fluorescent Light Bulb Question

[OzMan]

I have a outside light fixture on my front porch that indicates the maximum wattage incandescent bulb that should be used is 60 watts. For the past 4-5 years, I have had a Phillips 18 watt compact fluorescent bulb in this fixture (1150 lumens; equivalent to a 75W incandescent). I have never been satisfied with the light output of the 18W bulb and it finally burned out a couple of weeks ago.

Today, while at Wally-World I purchased a Lights of America 32W compact fluorescent bulb (2600 lumens; equivalent to a 150W incandescent bulb) to replace the 18W Philips bulb that burned out.

Can anyone tell me if it is safe to use a 32W compact fluorescent bulb in a fixture rated for a max 60W incandescent bulb? Will the heat from a 32W CF bulb producing 2600 lumens be less than a 60W incandescent bulb producing about 860 lumens? Do you see any risk in me using this 32W fluorescent bulb in this fixture?

Also, I have been using Phillips and Sylvania CF bulbs for the past 4-5 years and have had great luck them (unfortunately, my local Wally World doesn't carry them). I've never used a Lights of America bulb before - anyone had any experience with these?

Thanks,
OzMan

[Wim Hertog]

It's safe, the CF will not burn your fixture!

[Chris M.]

If you can get that monster of a CFL to fit in your light (biggest we get here is 26 watts and they`re pretty enormous), it`ll be fine - CFLs are significantly more efficient than GLS lamps and emit only a fraction of the heat in comparison.

However, some CFLs don`t like being in enclosed spaces because the heat they do emit can build up and go above the design rating of one or more of the components in the ballast, so the only thing you should be aware of is any warnings on the packaging of the bulb to avoid enclosed fittings. If it has no such warnings it should be OK.



Lights of America lamps have had a poor review from Light-bulb guru Don Klipstein. Poor colour rendering (maybe not so bad for an outside light), premature failures and iffy connections between the tube and ballast. Not to mention the proprietary bases in their CFL fixtures meaning that if and when the lamps are discontinued, you`re stuck with a useless lamp that won`t take any other bulbs. Not that it`s an issue in your case of using an incandescent-replacement type CFL with screw base, but it does say something about the company themselves.

Unfortunately I have exactly no American CFLs in my vast collection of bulbs (but would like some one day of course!) so am relying on 2nd hand information. LOA brand bulbs may have improved lately, maybe they havn`t. But they don`t seem to have a great reputation in the past.

Here`s hoping your bulb will be OK though.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[OzMan]

Thanks, Chris.

I, too, was surprised to find a bulb of this wattage (32W) in this diminutive size. Its actually no larger than the 18W Phillips bulb its replacing.

I did notice on a few of LOA's other bulbs (of higher wattage) the verbiage about not using it in enclosed fixtures, but I could find no such verbiage on the packaging of this bulb.

I guess only time will tell regarding its quality and longevity. Even if it only lasts half as long as its supposed to, I will still save money compared to an incandescent bulb since it typically burns 12-14 hours per day.

I am anxious for it to get dark so that I can see how much brighter this bulb is (2600 lumens) compared to the one it replaces (1150 lumens). [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

OzMan