I have a ceiling lampshade that says "40W max". But a 40W conventional bulb is too weedy. Is it OK to put in a 20W flourescent, supposedly = 100w, based on the assumption that the 40W refers to 40W of heat from an old type bulb, with flourecents running cooler?
Or are there other things I should watch out for?
Basically, yes. The one problem is that if the lampshade is too enclosed, it may overheat, and fail. This won't cause fires, just the light to stop working. IOW, it's safe to try.
It's fine. The rating of the lampshade is to do with how much heat it can stand, where heat is any form of radiation that helps the shade get hot.
Go by real Watts, not incandescent-lamp-equivalent-Watts.
You can put in a 40W fluorescent if you can find one.
Only whether it will fit, the new lamp being larger and oddly shaped.
Tim
|I have a ceiling lampshade that says "40W max". But a 40W conventional bulb |is too weedy. |Is it OK to put in a 20W flourescent, supposedly = 100w, based on the |assumption that the 40W refers to 40W of heat from an old type bulb, with |flourecents running cooler?
As you say the rating of a lampshade is about the "heat" given out by the bulb. So you can get more light safely by using compact fluorescent.
|Or are there other things I should watch out for?
No
Cheers, sounds like I'm OK.
Apart from the flour all over the floor!
You can put 40w of CFL in there, except if its an enclosed shade, eg a glass bowl. With those the CFLs would get too hot and fail.
To be nitpicky your equivalent cfl rating would be
Should work OK, but in my experience the bulb I used poked out the top of the shade and shone directly in peoples eyes, rather than being diffused by the shade. Solution was new light fitting, that allowed upto 100W bulbs.
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