Can a shop have too much lighting?

[TeamCasa]

Good advise. Dave

[Gary]

My electrician's rule of thumb is a double fluorescent light covers a space

6 feet to each side, so I think six would be adequate if you ran two rows parallel to the 25' wall, 6 and 1/2 feet from the walls and 12 feet apart. He install 4 double eight footers in my shop of 20'X24' and it is quite adequate. The rest of the building, a 28X36 foot garage has 3 rows of 3 eight foot lights. He installed cold start ballasts which is a very good thing in an unheated building, but they are very noisy as heck, which is a very bad thing. The hum drives me nuts!

Gary

[Unisaw A100]

Mike:

No.

UA100

[Ron]

I have a 16x24 basement shop I just finished off. Painted the floor an off white and the walls a semi-gloss white. I then put in 12 4' double bulb shop lights. Almost needed sunglasses to go in there. When I put all the stuff in the shop it absorbed some light and now it's perfect. BTW: 8 of the fixtures run right down the middle, side by side. The other 4 are against the wall near the main tool to cut down on, or eliminate, shadows. Working great for me.

[Dave Balderstone]

If you need to wear an SPF 30 sunblock, you might have too much light in the shop.

If your electrical utility calls and asks you to go in and watch TV for a while so the steel fabrication shop down the highway can get some welding done, you might have too much light in the shop.

If the neighbors are complaining about the glare, and it's noon on a sunny July day, you might have too much light in the shop.

If you can hear the fluttering of the moths while using your shaper, you might have too much light in the shop.

If you find you're really comfortable wearing welders' goggles while turning pens on your Jet Mini, you might have too much light in the shop.

...

[NoOne N Particular]

If the rest of the neighborhood blacks out when you turn on the lights, you might have too much light.

If the state has to build a new power plant just for you, you might have too much light.

Wayne

P.S. I have 2 8' lights with two tubes each, and 4 4' lights with 2 tubes each in a two car garage and on occassion still find myself trying to find a place that has better light .

[Unisaw A100]

Dave Balderstone wrote: mucho snippage...

If the cops come knocking on your door and want to check (cheque David) the basement for illegal farming activity, you might have too much light in the shop.

UA100

[Mike Marlow]

Hi Mike. Well - I'm going to go against the grain a bit. I believe you can install too much light. I'm in my 50's and I need more light every year, but not all light is created equal. I don't find that having more ceiling light is always the best answer. I'm finding I need more and more task lighting and that the addition of more ceiling light is not the answer. If I were you I'd go with less ceiling light and more provisions for task lighting. Ceiling light suffers from shadows and reflections and there's not much you can do about that. With task lighting you can control those two issues. I'd go with providing for a well lit shop - probably not far from what your electrician is suggesting, and then augment that in the areas where I need it. Use multiple switches and switch your lights in banks as other posters have suggested.

[Larry Jaques]

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 18:05:14 GMT, patrick conroy calmly ranted:

So in his case, the future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades?

----------------------------------------------------------------------- A PSYCHOLOGIST looks at everyone -else- ||

an attractive woman enters the room. || Full Website Programming

[Phisherman]

[Fly-by-Night CC]

I realize you've probly already gotten the answer you were looking for, but...

There is or was a guy here on the group by the name of Lew Hodgett who used to spec lighting for commercial applications, if I recall correctly. Your question has come up many times in the past and Lew has provided the figures and formulas to calculate the appropriate quantity of watts for a shop. Here's a link to a google search on lew and lighting - you might find some helpful info here:

[Greg O]

It does not sound like enough to me! In my 24 x 38 foot shop I have 24 4" floresants, 6 100 watt incandesants, and two 300 halogen fixtures. When I get serious they are all on! Greg

[patrick conroy]

If the Utility Company Executive that lives next door, comes home with a new bass boat, you might...

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

I don't see how. I've got 18 four foot 40 watt tubes in mine plus a double flood light with a motion sensor in my two car garage / workshop. My shop is lit up like a classroom. Sure makes things easier when I work at night.

[jo4hn]

If you're getting a tan, you might have too much light. j4

[Rob Stokes]

I had qty 9, 8' dual tube fl. fixtures and one 4' dual tube fixture (HO, cold start, high-end elec.ballast etc. etc. etc.. CRI of the bulbs was 92) in my 20x20 shop. They were divided into two switched sets; one with 4, the other had 6. I also had four skylights in there. The lights were all on all the time I was in there. (pics at "old shop" at URL below). I'd do it again. I still used "task" lighting on the bandsaw etc as well. Your Electrician simply doesn't want to hang the lights...mine didn't either. I did it. Did I say I'd do it again?

Good luck Rob

[Prometheus]

[Prometheus]

Are they hanging on chains or mounted to the ceiling? I've got some of each, and I found that the ones on chains hum a whole lot more than the ones attached to something solid.

[Prometheus]

What about tinted safety glasses?

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 15:31:46 -0600, Dave Balderstone scribbled:

If the Mounties raid your shop thinking it's a marijuana grow operation, you might have too much light in the shop.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address