What indoor flood lights fit in my 6" recessed can?

A 6" in diameter recessed can is a common size of can in overall room lighting. You can either use an incandescent BR40 in this size can or a PAR38. A BR40 light bulb is 5" in diameter and the PAR38 light bulb is 4 3/4" in diameter. You want to choose a light bulb that is roughly an inch smaller than the size of your can. Much tighter and it may be difficult for you to screw in and unscrew the bulb.

What light bulb do I use in my shower?

What lighting you should use in your shower is more about the fixture than the light bulb. But let's backup. If you are a DIY and you are installing the fixture in your shower, it's important that you purchase a fixture rated for shower/moisture use.

Bottom line, it's all about the fixture. Having said that, there are options or things you should know when purchasing the light bulb for your shower light. If your fixture is open, meaning that it isn't enclosed and moisture could get to it from steam or upward splash, you should be using a PAR light bulb. Whether it be incandescent or halogen doesn't matter as long as it's a PAR. If your fixture is enclosed, you have a great deal more flexibility. Your recessed can should give you some suggestions if you can't pull out a bulb to figure out what you are already using.

Holly Eddins

What makes a light bulb appropriate for outdoor spot and flood lights?

If you are looking for an outdoor spot or flood light that is enclosed or falls under the cover of a roof line, you have more options than if you need a bulb that can take direct rain.

Having said that, there are light bulbs made that will certainly take direct rain. These are designated by "PAR." Any bulbs with this as part if it's coding is made with a heavier glass lense that will withstand rain and other elements to come in direct contact with it. These can either be incandescent, halogen, some compact fluorescent, and LED light bulbs.

Holly Eddins

How do you dispose of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs?

How you dispose of compact fluorescent light bulbs is important. Why? Because they contain mercury which can be harmful to the environment. If your bulb is not broken, it's much easier. Most major cities have a recycling center that will take cfl bulbs. They then send the bulbs to a center that will take off the base to recycle, they will recycle the glass and will also salvage the mercury and reuse it as well.

If you don't have a recycling center in your area, according to the EPA you can double bag your bulbs and place in your trash. If you are a commercial operation, very different rules apply. You must get your fluorescent bulbs to a recycling center and often pay a fee to do so. You can find online service to do this if you don't know anyone locally. A big one is EPSI.

To view a more detailed account of what to do with these bulbs or how to take care of them when one breaks, please read our entire article on the subject.Holly Eddins

Can Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs be Used Outdoors?

Yes. Compact Fluorescent light bulbs can be used outdoors. Or that is some of them can. Not all compact fluorescent light bulbs are made with the right technology that will allow them to function properly in cold weather. Philips makes their outdoor compact fluorescent light bulbs with Amalgam Technology which provides a stable light output down to -4 degrees F or sometimes -10 degrees F.

Why is this important? For the same reason that it sometimes takes a compact fluorescent to warm up and function in your home.....when you throw the cold temperatures in the mix they may never warm up enough to actually light up. So, when purchasing compact fluorescent light bulbs to use outdoors, it is very important to insure that they are made to take the cold temperatures.

Holly Eddins

Can I use the same flood light for indoor and outdoor lighting?

Yes, in many cases you can use the same flood light bulbs for indoor and outdoor applications. Any flood light that is incandescent can be used outside as long as it doesn't get direct contact with rain or other elements. PAR incandescent light bulbs and PAR halogen light buls are made with heavy duty glass lense that can take the elements and are perfect for uplights and spot lights out in your yard. When you are looking at compact fluorescent light bulbs, you'll need to choose one that was manufacturered for being outside. Other CFL light bulbs will not hold up in lower temperatures.

Holly Eddins

Can you use a dimmer switch with a regular light bulb?

Yes. A regular light bulb will work with a dimmer switch. Now, what is a regular light bulb? Any incandescent light bulb and any halogen light bulb will work with a dimmer switch. When it comes to compact fluorescent light bulbs, you need to have one specially made to dim and they should indicate as such in the product descriptions.Holly Eddins

Do Halogen Light Bulbs contain Mercury?

No, Halogen light bulbs do not contain mercury. The atmosphere is halogen light bulbs is gas. And you do not have to take extra precautions when disposing these light bulbs.

Holly Eddins

Can I use a lower wattage Lamp with my current Metal Halide Ballast?

Yes. If the ANSI code or Ballast Reference number is the same, you may substitue one metal halide lamp for another one that is a different wattage.

For example, with Philips Lighting there is a 400 watt ED37 Mogul Based light bulb with an ANSI code of M59/S. The 360 watt ED37 Mogul Based light bulb has the same ANSI code therefore this item could be swapped out for the other without any problems occuring. There aren't very many of these but it does exist.

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How do I know what Compact Fluorescent to use when replacing my Incandescent light Bulbs?

It is not a clear cut thing to state when determining what cfl or compact fluorescent light bulb to use when replacing your incandescent light bulbs. Yes, the manufacturers put on their packaging that this replaces that but it's a little more of a gray area than that. Why? Because the manufacturers are assuming that you are replacing one of their bulbs and one that they are using for comparison. And it makes a difference whether you are using frosted or clear and which one you are using in comparison.

If this is the case, how do you a non-technical person make the comparison? It's very easy. What you need to do is to compare lumens. Lumens are the brightness that the light bulbs put out and will translate from one type of light bulb to the other. For example, a 20 Watt Philips EL/A PAR38 Reflector Flood Light Bulb has 940 initial lumens. When looking at incandescent, an 85 watt BR40 Reflector Flood Light Bulb has 925 initial lumens. That's pretty darn close and you'll never tell the difference.

This is important for many reasons but the biggest is because you don't want each recessed light bulb in your ceiling to be a different brightness. Needless to say......

Holly Eddins