ameijers wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
.. .
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Walter R." wrote in message
...
My kitchen ceiling has 4 light fixtures with 2 fluorescent lights
in each of them (T-12 4' long). This is too bright and wastes
energy.

I would like to deactivate 2 of the fixtures. Can I just pull the
2 tubes out of 2 fixtures, but leave these fixtures (with the
ballast) connected to the house wiring?


If you are heating your house, you are not wasting energy. The
energy used to light the bulbs and turns into heat and therefore
your main heater works less. In the summer, the AC will work
harder though.

I'm told that just removing the bulbs does little to the current
draw and the ballast is still using the electricity. Someone more
knowledgeable than I would be better suited to answer that.

I could be wrong, there are many kinds of ballast, but I believe
that must if not all will draw some current anytime the power is on,
with or without lamps. They will just warm up. However I believe
the total energy consumed is less and as far as I know the ballast
will not be damaged. Personally I would re-wire it so I could turn
on one or both. There are several ways of doing this. You also
could disconnect the power to one ballast.


If the fixture is too bright, you may want to consider replacing
it. IMO, fluorescent light is too harsh for a kitchen. Or course,
that
can cost thousand of dollars. If you removed the fixture, the
ceiling will have to be painted. That means the walls have to be
painted or papered as they will look dingy. Once that is done, the
floor is going to look old so you'll have to get that ceramic tile
you always wanted. You get the idea, the new fixture can run up
to $10,000 or more.

--
Lordy, y'all make things hard. In the egg cartons at work, when
people find the lights too bright, they just reach up and rotate the
bulbs a quarter turn. They don't fall out. Now these are commercial
fixtures, not sure if residential flourescents hold the tubes as well.

aem sends...

That works, but I am not sure it address the issues at hand.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit