Handyman role, home maintenance: (at least some) LED bulbs not for installation in completely enclosed fixtures?
Home maintenance, for me, requires constant self-tutoring. The tutor mentions a message he saw on the label of some LED bulbs.
I long ago heard that LED bulbs would produce comparable light – or even brighter – for a fraction of the energy needed by incandescent bulbs. Last night I installed one and the claim seems true: at 9.5W, the light seems to produce at least as much as I’d expect from a traditional 60W incandescent bulb.
Yet, a directive on the box of the LED bulbs says “not for use in totally enclosed luminaries.” I wondered what it meant, and why. All I could imagine was that heat buildup in an enclosed fixture might compromise the LED function. Yet, isn’t the point of LED bulbs, that they barely produce any heat, so therefore are very efficient?
On the internet I went to diy.stackexchange.com and got an answer I’m happy with:
Yes, it’s true the LED bulb shouldn’t be used in a completely enclosed fixture, if the box warns against it. The reason is that, while LED bulbs barely produce any heat, they can be VERY sensitive to heat, so may not function optimally in their own waste heat. An open fixture will allow the heat to escape so that the LED’s function will be promoted.
Fortunately, the fixture in which I wanted to install the LED bulb isn’t completely enclosed: I went ahead with the installation.
HTH:)
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.
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