Re: How many ceiling lights?

I think I'd go for minimum three fixtures. about 5' apart, with the bulbs running the 'short' dimension of the room.

Four fixtures (two rows of two), running the long direction, each row about 3' in from the wall, would give better coverage, and a better job of eliminating shadows.

A _lot_ depends on the shop layout, and how much 'localized' lighting you have. You're talking about a garage-stall size space. A single

I'd lean towards 4 _single_tube_ 8' fixtures.

Insufficient data to discuss intelligently. primary question is going to be 'how cold' the shop gets while _not_ in use, and how long you apply heat (and to what ambient) before trying to light the place and/or go to work.

Regardless, you'll probably want _some_ incandescent lighting, in case you need to get in when the place is 'cold'. :)

If you're dealing with an attached garage, and it stays above freezing inside, except in _extreme_ conditions, and you're warming the place to a 'shirtsleeve' environment (65-70F) in advance, regular flourscent lighting _will_ probably work acceptably. OTOH, if it's a separate building, with temps routinely dropping to sub-zero F, the 'cold weather' lights will make a difference.

Have your priced 4' fixtures? I am starting to install equipment in my new basement shop -- also just (re)finished the concrete floor -- which is about the same size as yours and 4 2-bulb 4' fixtures looks about right -- which my math tells me is the same as you are proposing. I went with 4' fixtures because they are easier to handle and a little more flexible to distribute on the ceiling. They may also have been a bit cheaper/foot of fixture. My shop had been a dump/storage area and a workshop with just my RAS and I had had 2 2-bulb 4' fixtures. I love a lot of light and may add some later, but probably some task light lamps (the kind with flex arms and springs).

You don't mention it but I assume your ceilings are about 8'. That makes a difference. I don't recall the formula, but light drops off by some multiple (sq?) of the distance. For example, you might need 50% more light of the height of the ceilings are 25% higher, such as 10' versus 8'. (Corrections welcome.)

BTW, as another reply post mentioned, an incandescent bult or two could be a good idea. Among other things, if you just need to run in and grab something from the shop, IIRC it is cheaper to flick an incandescent on and off. And, incandescent bulbs generate heat -- which is why they are more costly to run, at least in part. But, if you need the heat ...

My shop is 16x20, with walls and ceiling painted the brightest white I can find. It's thoroughly illuminated with five, 4' two-bulb fixtures and one set of track lights (three 50-watt spotlights) over the lathe.

IMO, you will get a better distribution of light by using 4' fixtures instead of 8'. Probably four 4' fixtures, plus task lighting as needed, will suffice.

Two 4' fixtures probably cost less than one 8' fixture. Consider cost and availability of bulbs, too: I can get 4' bulbs at Wal-Mart (I'm in the US; YMMV), but I don't remember seeing 8' bulbs except at hardware stores and home centers. And two 4' bulbs at Wal-Mart may well be cheaper than one 8' bulb at Home Depot.

I can't speak to the need for, or behavior of, cold-start bulbs (my shop is in my basement, so I don't need them). But you should *not* leave your shop completely unheated when it's not in use: water vapor will condense on everything, and you'll have *major* rust problems. Make sure that your shop is

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Save the baby humans - stop partial-birth abortion NOW

I have an ex-garage for a shop. About 20x20. I have 10 4' flourescent shop lights. I do not have them carefully lined up in rows. I have them semi-randomly hanging around the shop. Actually, a couple of in specific locations, but I found that putting them up to make sure that nothing was in shadow was the best. Too often I found that I would be blocking the light from a row of them, so having them distributed all over means there is always light coming from somewhere. Also, I have some incandescent task lights around, plus by my scroll saw/ginding area I have some halogen hockey puck lights on the bottom of the shelf over the tools. They generate some heat though.

-- Rusty Myers Austin, TX

Try this link it is very helpful, my shop is about the same size and I opted to put up 16 - 2 bulb 4' fixtures and went with the T8's. Amazing just how bright and natural the light is.

This is a good point, but impractical for the whole shop.

I have a steel wardrobe-sized cabinet, and I just heat that.

More input and FWIW ... my shop is 18' X 18' and I have 8, 2 bulb, four foot fluorescent fixtures from Lowes, in two rows of four each.

Since my ceiling joists are exposed, I hung the fixtures from 2 X 4's laid across the joists so they can easily be moved when I change tools around and/or reorganize the shop. The fixtures are the kind the come with plugs. They plug into four, fourplex outlets, evenly distributed between the joists, wired on a switched, 20 amp circuit that is strictly for lights.

For anyone who has exposed joists in a garage/shop, this is a very convenient, cost effective way to have flexible lighting, which you can easily add to.

I could stand to have a couple/few more.

UA100

On 8 Aug 2003 03:16:57 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca (Bri) scribbled

I have five in my 14X28 shop - lots of light except for one corner which had scrap bins. Also, two incandescents, used when I just need to pop in. Oh, I almost forgot: also one two bulb regular 4' fixture. The five fixtures are controlled by one master switch and four of them also have a switch near them (on the 7' ceiling). So I can turn them all off

That's about what I paid in the Yukon. You can either pay that amount up front, or pay for extra heating while you wait for the lights to warm up.

Yes. Anything below 0 Celsius and you'll wait a long time before regular fluorescents kick in. You have to raise the temp to about +10 degrees before you get light. At -30, even the cold start take a while. I speak from experience. I tried the cheap fluorescent route and gave up pretty quickly. The one I have now stays turned off in winter - all it does is buzz.

As far as Doug Miller's point about rust if you don't heat the shop, he is technically correct about the shop needing to be above the dew point. However, given that the shop will get some residual heat from the house, and thus will usually be a few degrees higher than outside, your machinery will almost always be above the dew point and you will get little condensation and rust, at least in Canadian winters.

Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address