In .com, Larry Bud wrote:
On May 28, 7:40 am, Phisherman wrote:
On Sun, 27 May 2007 10:33:08 -0700, "Paul O."
wrote:

In our kitchen we have two ceiling light fixtures with 60 watt max. labeled
on the fixture. I presume this is for the heat. I'm wondering if in those
fixtures one can use a 100 watt flourescent screw in like the ones at Lowes
and other places. Thanks.

A 60 watt lamp of any kind will generate 60 watts of heat.
A 100 watt lamp of any kind will generate 100 watts of heat.
Use a 60 watt fluorescent lamp, provided there is no dimmer on the
circuit.

Well that's not true. The key is that the CF converts more of the
electricity into light instead of heat, hence being more energy
efficient.

Except for what gets through the windows, the light becomes heat.
Generally, all lightbulbs are close to 100% efficient at heating your
home. If you are not trying to heat your home or if you are heating your
home with heating more economical then electric resistive heating, then
you want more efficient lighting.

As for heating of the fixtu This gets different. Incandescents
produce a lot of infrared, which largely avoids heating the fixture
although this heats your home. CFs have their "waste" being mainly
convected/conducted heat, which impacts the fixture more on its way to
heating your home.

I had an 8 inch globe warm up slightly more with a 42 watt CF than with
a 60 watt incandescent.

Furthermore, CFs are less tolerant of heat than incandescents are. In a
small enclosed fixture or a downlight rated for 60 watt max incandescent,
23 watt CF may be pushing things if it's not something good in such places
like non-dimmable Philips SLS. Otherwise 15-19 watts or so CF (60-75 watt
incandescent equivalent) could be the most that does not have life
shortened a lot by the heat.

- Don Klipstein )