This may be the wrong board for this question but I can't think where else to get the answer. My halogen torchiere lamp finally stopped working. I have a regular floor lamp with shade that doesn't give much light. I have found a 300 watt halogen bulb with a regular base that would fit the floor lamp. Will it be too hot? My husband thinks it might burn the lampshade. Appreciate help from someone who knows about these things.
Greetings,
It is too bad that the 500 W torchiere lamps were recalled. I would have much rather seen a warning to keep them 3 feet or more from combustibles. I guess Americans just can't handle a product which is only safe when used as directed.
Too bad, William
Absolutely do not use the halogen in a fixture not specifically rated for it. Halogen fixtures use high temperature wire due to the heat generated. Even some fixtures made for halogen lamps have been found to be fire hazards. There are some Edison based halogen lamps made to replace standard A lamps, but in a fixture with a shade I don't think I'd take the chance
Just to clarify, the problem with the fixtures that were recalled was the bowl shaped open top. Objects were to easily tossed into them, often by children and ignited by the heat. They were replaced with models that had a protective lens over the bowl. It was more a design flaw considering the intense heat generated by the lamp, and had little to do with the competence of any particular nationality
Many torchiere lamps were recalled because the excessive heat was starting fires in curtains and such. Sounds like a bad idea.
If the lamp is UL rated it will also have a sticker listing the maximum wattage for each style bulb that will fit in it. If you ignore this label, you risk fire. Many enclosed incandescant lamps are 65W and open lamps are
120W
Call the manufacturer to find out what you CAN use. Halogen bulbs are far too dangerous to take chances with. There may be a website too.
What is the wattage limit of that lamp fixture? It should give you a maximum wattage. Never exceed that wattage. My guess is it will be like
150W. A standard base 300W halogen can be used in a floor lamp if that floor lamp is rated for 300W. Frankly I don't like to go to the max. I have seen too many that did not do well that way. I would want a floor lamp rated for 500W for that 300W bulb.I suggest that you take a look around. You should find some florescent floor lamps that are as bright as a 300W lamp but put out a lot less heat and cost less to operate.
Do not put a halogen bulb in any fixture not designed for that specific wattage of halogen. It gets VERY hot. Yes, it will probably burn the shade.
Yep, you are right, it doesn't have anything to do with a particular nationality, sex, religion, etc. It has to do with stupidity, failure of parents to monitor and control their children, and the general unconscious and uncaring behavior of some people. Examples include people who don't notice that the lamp was moved off center and is now leaning against the drapes (even tho the switch is on the lamp pole or moved the lamp to a position against the drapes.
Greetings,
It does have something to do with our nationality. For some reason Americans have voted themselves a system where we have more lawyers than the rest of the world combined. For some reason Americans have voted themselves a system where every bad thing that happens is somehow the manufacturer's fault. This IS AMERICA today. Americans, nobody else, made America this way. We have no one to blame but ourselves. It is a problem with our nationality-- with our voters; the severity of the problem is unique to us.
Hope this helps, William
George, I couldn't agree more, unfortunately between the lawyers, the lawsuits and the liberal politicians that support them, we are no longer responsible for our own actions. If you buy a device with a blade and find a way to cut yourself, It's the manufacturer's fault. If you buy something that heats and manage to burn yourself, it's the manufacturer's fault. By cultivating a mentality that "our" safety is someone else's responsibility, people today no longer THINK about common sense dangers
I don't believe this applies to those halogen bulbs that are designed to work in a standard fixture. They are designed different and the outside of the lamp does not reach the temperatures of the halogen lamps we normally think of. They have two glass envelopes.
While it is true that a halogen lamp must burn hotter to activate the halogen cycle, this can happen in the smaller interior envelope while an additional outside glass envelope will reach normal temperatures.
William, your argument nor mine for that matter changes the fact that some things are just designed poorly and having seen a variety of this type of fixture, I would include them in that group. Having said that, you are dead right in my opinion about what we as Americans are becoming. I do the best I can to teach my children to be conscious of what they're doing and not to expect or believe that it's anyone else's job to do their thinking for them. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the winds of change have begun to blow in this country and maybe in a few years these things will start to straighten out.
Best, Roy
Go by the wattage rating of the fixture or the wattage rating of the socket when using Edison base lamps. Edison base halogen lamps with a glass outer bulb surrounding the halogen capsule produce heat output similar to that of non-halogen same-base units of the same wattage.
Many sockets have a 250 watt limit, probably including most of those cheap brass ones with the brown paper insulator between the outer part of the socket and the part that the lamp/bulb screws into.
- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
I totally encourage use of the fluorescent floor lamps. Just beware - they are not as bright as 300 watt halogens. But since (at 10 cents per KWH, approx. USA average residential electricity cost) they cost about 2.4 cents per hour less to run, a couple years electricity savings could put an extra $37 floor lamp into the budget.
- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.