How feasable is it to light a home with only halogen sconces?

[will.pattison]

I just bought a house for myself and want to know if anyone has any thoughts or experience using halogen wall sconces. Other threads in alt.home.repair are making me think I may have heating issues. Can 3

100 watt halogen scones light up a 15'x15' room enough to read or play monopoly? The house is not very big and I thought it would be neat if I could get away with no lamps and little or no ceiling lights. Any and all feedback is appreciated as I have almost no knowledge on the subject.

[Abe]

Amazing to read this, that's exactly what I did. I put 100W halogen wall sconces in the living room and all 4 bedrooms of my house when I remodeled it. They can get pretty bright, so they are all on dimmer switches. They can certainly light up a 15 X 15 room for any purpose.

I have no heat problems at all, but I also have good air circulation. I generally keep my windows open at least a crack, and the furnace fan is always on even when the heat/AC is off.

I have 7'6" ceilings, so I placed them all 18" from ceiling to top of fixture, and 16" from edge of wall to outside edge of fixture.

I'm very happy with the arrangement.

[Abe]

One followup note. Sconces are notorious for collecting crap dust, dead bugs, etc..), so try and get a modle in which the glass is easily removable for cleaning.

[SQLit]

15 times 15 equals 225 divided by 300 equals .25 watts per foot. Watts are not lumens but when I do load calculations for warehouses I use 3-5 watts per foot for the lighting.

Halogens are hot when running so your going to be getting 300 watts of heat into the room. If you not air conditioning then no worries. Halogens do not last very long in relation to CF's

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Would not be real neat, IMO. The quality of light is a factor, not just brightness. Halogen sconces would tend to be harsh and can be hard on the eyes for reading or watching TV. Do a little experimenting in your present house. Turn of the TV, sit in your favorite char, and turn on every light you have in the house. Bring in a couple of more lamps. Take off the shades to get even more light. Now, turn them out and try different combinations. Some work far better than others. Try this again, but reading a book or newspaper. You will probably find that a table lamp over your shoulder gives a much better light for this type of activity.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds expensive to run. Think fluorescent. Unless the fluo light bothers your eyes. A very real problem, I've known folks who can't tolerate fluorescent light.