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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
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for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Paint or something to make brass lamp shade less hot
Q. I don't really care that the color is brass, but I want to put the brass reading lamps on either side of the couch (they attach to the wall; they're not table or floor lamps). The shade gets really hot after a while, and I'd like to make them safer. Can I use epoxy paint or something over the shade part to dampen the heat affect? Thanks
Mary Finnertyhobbyist - Seattle, Washington, USA
2007
A. That won't work, Mary, but the new compact fluorescent bulbs fit standard sockets, look like regular bulbs, have that warm yellowish color of normal bulbs, use one fifth of the energy, and generate less than one fifth of the heat.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
A. Use compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) that are low in mercury and utilize amalgam technology. Phillips and General Electric both make low-mercury CFLs [40-60% below the voluntary NEMA standard of 5 mg] using amalgams [alloying with bismuth-indium to lower the mercury vapor pressure by 5x].
• GE offers candle and A-line bulbs for decorative applications, as well as Super Long Life Biax® bulbs.
http://www.gelighting.com/na/business_lighting/education_resources/literature_library/product_brochures/downloads/product/20563_cfl.pdf
• Phillips offers ALTO ® bulbs in a wide variety of sizes and types.
http://www.nam.lighting.philips.com/us/ecatalog/catalogs/2006_SAG100_CFL.pdf
• Sylvania has a new DURA-ONE line currently available in a very few sizes:
http://www.sylvania.com/content/display.scfx?id=003685298
• Greenlite offers some amalgam CFLs, but you will have to determine from package labels (uninformative website). The Westinghouse website is also uninformative.
- Goleta, California
Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to benefit from.
A. Trust the above info but why is nobody saying FIRE DANGER if you paint?. The bulbs are the reason the fixtures gets hot. Please do not put any type of paint on the fixtures. It is a safety issue and you increase your chances for a fire exponentially from almost nothing to an almost certainty.
Stephen Mann- Palm Springs, California, USA
Thanks for the warning, Stephen, which should not be ignored. But many if not most fixtures are painted in some fashion and "almost certainty" is clearly a stretch :-)
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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