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Posted by Don Klipstein on January 21, 2008, 1:11 pm
Jim Redelfs wrote in part:
>It is my understanding that the phase-out affects ONLY 75w and 100w
>incandescent lamps and is due in 2012. If your query is of OTHER wattages,
>you probably have little (currently) about which to be concerned.
>
>The biggest advantage to CF (compact fluorescent) lamps, to me anyway, is
>their considerably lower operating temperature. This is a distinct
>advantage particularly in those fixtures where the lamp(s) is enclosed.
>It is the HEAT from the incandescent lamps in these applications that
>"kill" them. IOW, they are somewhat self-destructive.
Actually, my experience is that compact fluorescents self-destruct from
their own heat in heat-confining fixtures more than incandescents do.
One reason is that despite being more efficient at producing light, CFLs
are more efficient than incandescents at producing non-radiant heat. What
incandescents mostly produce is infrared, most of which escapes the
fixture and produces heat outside the fixture.
I have a data point of a 42 watt CFL heating a fixture to a very
slightly higher temperature than a 60 watt incandescent does. So
replacing incandescents with CFLs will reduce fixture temperature less
than one may expect.
The other reason is that CFLs don't withstand high temperatures as well
as incandescents.
CFLs cooking themselves to death usually do so in a base-up orientation,
since the ballast is what usually fails from accumulated heat. There are
CFLs rated for use in recessed ceiling fixtures. There are also many
recessed ceiling fixtures that have their own ballasts and take pin-base
ballastless CFLs in order to avoid heat-related failures.
- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)
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