In my guest bathroom, we have a recessed light above the tub that we use as a 'night light' for the kids. It has a glass lens and a rubber gasket that presumably is intended to minimize moisture from getting in the fixture.
Two issues:
1. For a while, we weren't sure why the light kept burning out. Eventually, we figured out that it was some kind of overheat protection kicking in and the bulb wasn't actually going bad. We put a lower wattage bulb (40 watts maybe?) in there and that seems to have minimized this issue (although it still happens occasionally).
2. Even without the overheating problem, the bulb is still on overnight (and sometimes all day when we forget to turn it off) which means that it burns out fairly fast. I figured this would be a perfect use of a CFL bulb or even an LED bulb. However, when reading the fine print, all the CFLs and LED bulbs indicate that they should not be used in an enclosed fixture. I eventually found an LED light that was rated for 'damp' location and didn't say anything about enclosed spaces on the exterior packaging. Sure enough, when I got home and opened it, the warning about enclosed spaces was written directly on the bulb.
Further reading online indicates that LED lights still give off some pretty significant heat (hence half the structure of the bulb is a heatsink).
Any of y'all use CFLs or LEDs in enclosed fixtures?
Two issues:
1. For a while, we weren't sure why the light kept burning out. Eventually, we figured out that it was some kind of overheat protection kicking in and the bulb wasn't actually going bad. We put a lower wattage bulb (40 watts maybe?) in there and that seems to have minimized this issue (although it still happens occasionally).
2. Even without the overheating problem, the bulb is still on overnight (and sometimes all day when we forget to turn it off) which means that it burns out fairly fast. I figured this would be a perfect use of a CFL bulb or even an LED bulb. However, when reading the fine print, all the CFLs and LED bulbs indicate that they should not be used in an enclosed fixture. I eventually found an LED light that was rated for 'damp' location and didn't say anything about enclosed spaces on the exterior packaging. Sure enough, when I got home and opened it, the warning about enclosed spaces was written directly on the bulb.
Further reading online indicates that LED lights still give off some pretty significant heat (hence half the structure of the bulb is a heatsink).
Any of y'all use CFLs or LEDs in enclosed fixtures?