Max wattage in a light fixture

[OWC Jamie]

space-time wrote:
primarily heat

please explain the reasoning. heat from a 13W CFL is aboutshould be 4x less than heat from a 60W Incandescent. I would think you could safely put a 40-50W CFL if such thing existed and if it would fit in that space

premature bulb failure

what would cause that?

EDIT: OK, maybe there is a reason for this if the CFL is designed to operate in an open space and not it is enclosed, so the bulb may fail, but the fixture should be OK.
I'd guess no manufacturer tests a fixture with a flaming failed cfl

failure of fixture

why would the fixture fail? it should sees less amperage and less heat with a 20-25W CFL than with a 60W incandescent

failure of fixture wires

again please explain this. the current is less than for an incandescent bulb
again, heat can bake wire insulation and any other insulation / parts within or comprising the fixture

risk of fire

why? less heat, less current, what would start the fire?
a cfl can catch on fire when it fails
I've had a cfl set off a smoke detector minutes before it started belching smoke - this was in an open fixture and was a properly rated bulb for an open fixture over a sink


Have had a rental property ceiling fire from a 100 watt bulb in a ceiling fixture clearly marked 60 watt max

that makes sense, 100W bulb in a 60W fixture is a NO-NO, but I don't see a good reason why a 20-25W CFL would not work. Or a 20-30W LED for that matter.

I would try it, and I have. I'm also not a lawyer nor was I consulted to word the lamp's warning label :-)

also:
One can take a 60 watt incandescent and actually test a fixture with it and reasonably assume that that one bulb represents all incandescents and ( maybe even ) all future incandescents. ( especially considering they are being phased out world-wide.)

You can't take a 13 watt cfl off the shelf and reasonably assume it represents all 13 watt bulbs because it doesn't, nor can one assume that any future manufactured 13 watt cfl won't generate an amount of heat that the fixture can't handle either

One can reasonably assume it shouldn't, but you can't absolutely warrant that it won't.

Technically you can't really assume a future 12 watt cfl or LED or whatever, but any future manufactured bulb that might put out more heat than an equivalent should also have a use disclaimer.