75 Watt Light Bulb in a 60 Watt Fixture?!

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Aimster
I had a house fire because of lightbulbs .... insurance covered everything.

but it wasnt the kind of light you are tallking about. It was fluorescent

Was there enough left of the bulb to know what went wrong?

 

[d3n]

I think the bulb ratings are related to the fixture. The heat is too much for the materials used. Especially if the bulb is enclosed. At minimum plastics used can crack. Worse case you can have a fire, even that is rare as the fixture will likely cease to work before that happens.

You should be ok using the new florescent bulbs that are 75 or 100watt equivalent. Most fixtures will have ratings based on the old style bulbs for a long time to come.


The amount of power is an issue if you have a long series of fixtures in series on the same circuit. Amps is the big number for that. You generally want to add up everything and make sure your not drawing more than the circuit is rated for. Usually 15 amps. I wouldn't load one over 8 amps if I could help it.

 

[0roo0roo]

definetly dont do it, as said the rating is for heat and what the wires are meant to handle. if you want more wattage toss in a compact fluorescent. 75 cf only draws maybe 15. so heck if you did toss in a 60watt cf in there it would be like 200 equiv or something blinding if you want more light, go cf. only actual power usage matters not the light output equivalent. damn easy. no point wasting power using incandescents these days anyways.

 

[chcarnage]

Originally posted by: IGBT
..get fluorescent equiv.and be done wit it.

Energy saving lamp FTW!

 

[sadffffff]

the max wattage is for fire hazzard purposes, wont cause it to explode or burn out any quicker or draw too much current. it has to do with how the fixture is designed and how much heat you can safely put in it.

i put a 75 and a 100 watt in my ceiling fixture which has a max of two 60s, one night the plastic fixture melted out of the ceiling and scared the crap out of me as it dangeled there form the wires. i repaired it and now obey the max wattage rating. could have been bad.

 

[jagec]

This thread is amazing.

As mentioned, the reason for ratings on the fixture is mostly due to heat dissipation (or lack thereof). The bulb won't burn out sooner, the fixture will just get hotter. If you have ONE 75 watt bulb and two 60 watt bulbs in a fixture designed for 3x60, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: sadffffff
the max wattage is for fire hazzard purposes, wont cause it to explode or burn out any quicker or draw too much current. it has to do with how the fixture is designed and how much heat you can safely put in it.

i put a 75 and a 100 watt in my ceiling fixture which has a max of two 60s, one night the plastic fixture melted out of the ceiling and scared the crap out of me as it dangeled there form the wires. i repaired it and now obey the max wattage rating. could have been bad.

Actually, depending on the fixture yes it will burn out. The bulb can get too hot depending on the fixture (recessed lighting is notorious for this, as are globes), which results in the bulb having a shorter life span.

 

[sadffffff]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: sadffffff
the max wattage is for fire hazzard purposes, wont cause it to explode or burn out any quicker or draw too much current. it has to do with how the fixture is designed and how much heat you can safely put in it.

i put a 75 and a 100 watt in my ceiling fixture which has a max of two 60s, one night the plastic fixture melted out of the ceiling and scared the crap out of me as it dangeled there form the wires. i repaired it and now obey the max wattage rating. could have been bad.

Actually, depending on the fixture yes it will burn out. The bulb can get too hot depending on the fixture (recessed lighting is notorious for this, as are globes), which results in the bulb having a shorter life span.

right, i should have been more clear. i meant electrically. heat-wise, absolutly it could

 

[brandonb]

This is my experience:

I had a 60 watt max fixture which was used as a ceiling light (not on a fan), however, the lightbulbs were faced down, and at the top (behind the bulbs) were air vents to let out the heat. After putting 75watt bulbs in there, the heat was too much and actually put scorched marks on the ceiling due to the heat over several years. Not really enough to be a hazard, but I can see why they had 60 watt max. Probably as the device was designed for only a certain amount of heat/energy.

 

[OFFascist]

Use a compact flourescent, uses way less energy produces less waste heat.

 

[fstime]

Don't do it.

I had a 60w rated fixture like your self and I used to put 100w bulbs in there all the time.

After a while, they started blowing very quickly.

Then, all of a sudden, it sounded like a pop and all the power in the house went out.

Turns out, the fixtures wiring was all burned up and in bad shape.

Probably could of done a bit of harm.

I don't know if 60>75 is safer than 60>100 but I wouldn't do it.

Oh and it was a double fixture so it was 2x 100w bulbs in an enclosed glass dome fixture.