Can I Mix 40 Watts and 25 Watts Light Bulbs in One Fixture?

[jaykchan]

I would like to ask questions related to a lighting fixture in my bathroom.

1. Can I mix 40-watts and 25-watts light bulbs into one lighting fixture? The lighting fixture allows me to put 6 light bulbs into it. But I have no idea what's the manufacturer suggestion of the right kind of light bulbs for the lighting fixture because the lighting fixture was already in the house when I bought the house, and I don't have any documentation about the lighting fixture. I am thinking of putting in

25-watts light bulbs to it in order to save some electricity. But I already put in some 40-watts light bulbs in it already (I didn't know any better at that time). Am I going to have a problem if I mix 25-watts and 40-watts light bulbs in the same lighting fixture?

1. How much light do I need in a small bathroom anyway? I am trying to figure out if I am making the right decision in using 25-watts light bulbs instead of 40-watts ones. The bathroom is only 5'x8'. One

40-watts light bulb will provide 415-ju..(spelling). Six 40-watts light bulbs will provide totally 2490-ju... One 250-watts light bulb will provide around 250-ju... Six 25-watts light bulbs will provide totally around 1500-ju... Is 1500-ju... bright enough for a small 5'x8' bathroom?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

[Ken]

As others have said, the fixture is probably rated for 60W bulbs or better, so if that's the case, mix bulbs anyway you want.

Also, as others have said, the right amount of light is what makes you happy.

Since you said the goal is to save electricity, you should know that fewer higher wattage bulbs are better than more lower wattage bulbs. This would probably look silly in your fixture, but a more energy efficient distribution of bulbs would be to use 2 or 3 60W bulbs and leave the other sockets empty (or perhaps screw in burned out bulbs so that an empty socket isn't there as a potential shock hazard. Don't screw in one of those lamp-socket-to-plug conversion things because that would encourage someone to plug something in to a circuit that is likely not GFCI protected in a bathroom.)

In place of that, perhaps you want a new light fixture that only has a couple sockets in it.

Finally, compact fluorescent bulbs would be the most energy efficient choice. Lowes has a wide selection of attractive looking compact fluorescent bulbs if your fixture has exposed bulbs.

Ken

[Luke]

Yes.

[snip]

Should be a label affixed specifying maximum wattage per socket. If you can't find it, describe the fixture better and we can tell you. I'm guessing it's a strip light, probably 60 Watts maximum per socket, common is to use decorative globe bulbs, but any standard base bulb will work.

[snip]

You're overthinking :-). Make it as bright or dim as you want.

[Dave]

check your fixture its probably stamped on it and painted over. Most fixtures say 60 watt bulbs is the limit. there'd no reason why you can't mix bulbs that are 60 or under.

[Doug Miller]

Sure.

Compact fluorescent bulbs would save even more.

No, you won't have any problems at all.

Only you can decide that. What's bright enough for me might be too dim for you, or vice versa. It depends on far too many factors for anyone else to be able to give you an answer; among these factors are: a) are the walls painted a dark, or light, color? b) are the ceiling and floor dark, or light? c) how large is the mirror in the room? d) how much light is absorbed by the fixture globes? e) how much natural light does the room get? f) how old are you? (The older you get, the more light you need.) g) do you prefer brightly lit bathrooms, or dimly lit ones? h) is the floor carpet, tile, or wood? i) are the fixtures white porcelain, or some other color?

The only way you can tell how much light *you* need in *that* bathroom is by experimenting. Put some bulbs in; if it's too bright, use lower-wattage bulbs. If it's not bright enough, use higher-wattage bulbs. Repeat as needed until you like it.

[CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert]

If its a ceiling light fixture its probably 40w bulbs, if its on the wall its probably 60w. You should be able to see the rating for the bulbs on the bulb socket itself.

BAthroom its probably 60w. Typically you go with the brighter bulbs in the bathroom so you can see how beautiful you are in the morning... Clear bulbs are typical to help you see the true color of yoru clothes.

Bulb brightness is measured in lumens. joules is a measurement of energy consumed.

[petertdavis]

I don't see how it could hurt. Might look a bit odd.

[JohnR66]

In my experience, the bathroom light is not on anymore than 2 hours in a day (even less for me). I would not worry saving energy there. My bathroom had

3-40w clear globes in a strip above the mirror (not shaded). I felt like I was getting nuked when I turned the lights on at night. As they burned out, I replaced them with 25 watters. It seems just right to me now. My walls and fixtures are light in color so I can get away with lower wattages. Darker rooms will require more light.

I use CFL bulbs where the lamps are on for many hours or continous such as outside fixtures or rooms I'm in long. CFLs are great for those hard to reach fixtures too, since they last quite long.

John

[jaykchan]

I would like to piggy-back on your reply to thank everyone who have replied to my post.

Glad to hear that this is OK for me to mix two different watts light bulbs in the same lighting fixture.

People is right to point out that we really don't spend that many time in the bathroom; therefore, trying to save some electricity in the bathroom doesn't make much sense. For the same reasoning, I will not replace the light bulbs with CFL bulbs either because the upfront cost is higher with CFL bulbs and I would take a long time to save enough money to recover the cost. But I will definitely use CFL bulbs in areas I will leave the light on for an extended period.

I am surprised to hear that using fewer number of light bulbs will save more money than using lower-watts light bulbs. I didn't know this. Seem like if I ever replace the lighting fixture, I may need to replace with one that use fewer light bulbs than the current one. I always feel that the current lighting fixture is providing more light than I really need. The reason why I say so is that two of the light bulbs had burnt out, and I didn't notice any difference.

Thanks again for the info.

Jay Chan

[CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert]

lumens is a measure of brightless IIRS. There is also the overall fill to be considered. More lights can give a more even lighting with less shadows. Something you definitely want in a bathroom unless you want to see all those wrinkles, or your a body builder :)

[Don Klipstein]

In article , [e-mail] wrote in part:

Next time you're in the lightbulb aisle, look at the lumen light output figures. One 60-watt lightbulb usually produces more light than four

25-watt ones do.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[jaykchan]

You are probably right in saying that we need more light in a bathroom. But in my opinion, my bathroom has already got more light than it need. I come to this conclusion from the simple fact that 2 of the 6 light bulbs was dead and I didn't even notice any difference. This means those 2 are definitely "extra".

Anyway, I have looked into the sockets of the light bulb and found that they are rated as 60-watts as what people have already mentioned in previous posts. Still, I put 40-watts light bulb because that are what I have been using all along; therefore, I don't feel that this is necessary to use 60-watts light bulbs.

I also decide not to use 25-watts light bulbs. As suggested in other posts, we spend very little time in the bathroom. Any saving is minimum. I would much rather all the light bulbs to "match" each other.

Thanks for all the replies that I have received so far.

Jay Chan

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I use florescent bulbs as much as I can. All lights in my house is daylight spectrum kind except in sun room where plant growing lights are used. Tony

[jaykchan]

There are a couple problems of using florescent bulbs in a bathroom:

- We spend very few hours in the bathroom, and florescent bulbs are more expensive than regular light bulbs. We will not recover the additional cost of using florescent bulbs for a very long time.

- I have an impression that a florescent bulb will take longer time to light up than a regular light bulb. When we enter a dark bathroom, we want the light to come on right away because we expect to get in and get out from the bathroom quickly. The additional seconds delay of florescent bulbs will be hard to bear when we only intend to stay in the bathroom for half a minute.

- I have already had regular light bulbs in the bathroom. If I used florescent bulbs, I would need to phase them in. This means I would see a mix of two different size and shape of light bulbs in the same lighting fixtures for two years. I would not like this.

Of course, if I were off-grid, I would definitely use florescent bulbs everywhere.

Jay Chan

[Bob]

California now requires general lighting in bathrooms to be fluorescent. So a typical bathroom has three switches by the door: One for the incandescent light bar over the mirror, one for the exhaust fan, and one for a compact fluorescent light on the ceiling.

[Night Angel]

"Dave" wrotenews:9ePDe.170578$_o.144238@attbi_s71:

And that 60 number is the politically correct, cover my ass number anyway to hopefully keep the company from being sued when some moron puts a 5,000 watt bulb in there, burns down the house and then sues.

The number is really a base upon heat, not watts, put out.

You could put a 150 watt flourescent bulb in there and it would be fine, because it throws out about 30% of the heat.

You could put all 100 watt bulbs in there, but your bathroom would be a steam room.

Then there is the load overall on the ciruit you're on....if you have 6 100 watt bulbs going, turn on a hair dryer and have the overhead fan/heat lamp on and have an instant-on hotwater heater on your faucet, you might be in big troublinski, da?

[Don Klipstein]

A 42 watt compact fluorescent heats a fixture very slightly more than a

60 watt incandescent does. I have a "Raytek" non-contact thermometer and operated various lamps in an 8 inch glass globe and wrote down temperatures.

Although a 42 watt compact fluorescent puts out more light than a 60 watt incandescent, it also puts out slightly more convected and conducted heat. What the compact fluorescent produces a lot less of is infrared - which will mostly produce heat matwerializing in the room but mostly not in the fixture (at least for most fixtures).

I did once see a fixture rated for a 60 watt bulb have wire insulation start turning brown and producing a burning odor with a 60 watt bulb. This was a desk lamp of the "banker's lamp" style. It used tubular "refrigerator" style showcase bulbs. My guess is, where the fixture was designed the 60 watt bulb that shape and size that the fixture was tested with had a vacuum, while in the USA many such shape, size and wattage bulbs are gas-filled - and produce more convected/conducted heat and less infrared. However, the fixture ran nice and cool with a 40 watt tubular bulb - 40 and 25 watt 120V tubular "refrigerator" bulbs used in the USA have a vacuum unlike the 60 watt version.

I would not consider all fixtures safe somewhat exceeding their rated limits, since I saw one with a design/testing flaw that made it unsafe with the bulb it came with and was rated for.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[BARBARA f WOLF]

replying to Ken, BARBARA f WOLF wrote: does this also apply to a kitchen fluorescent fixture.. I had four 32 watt small tube 4ft tubes...two went out so i replaced them with two 34 watt ones larger tubes that I had on hand. so i have two 32 watt tubes and two 34 watt tubes in same fixture . is this ok or is that a problem

[Pop]

replying to jaykchan, Pop wrote: Should never mix wattage. It's a closed circuit to t fixture. Power will distribute equally, based on the higher wattage. Eventually the lower wattage bulb will overheat and shatter.

[Pop]

replying to jaykchan, Pop wrote: Should never mix wattage. It's a closed circuit to t fixture. Power will distribute equally, based on the higher wattage. Eventually the lower wattage bulb will overheat and shatter.