Q: Our house has 102 recessed cans with incandescent PAR floodlights. I understand that LED lighting gives a brighter light and uses much less electricity. What size LED should I purchase to retrofit a recessed can? Do LED lights need a lens cover? Is there any problem with overheating?
A: Wow, 102 recessed fixtures. Does the neighborhood brown out when you turn them all on? First off, I need to know what size opening your recessed fixtures are. My guess is that they have a 6-inch aperture.
There are companies that make screw-in LED reflector lamps such as the Axiom Power Corp., which has a 12W replacement for a 50W to 65W incandescent PAR lamp that’s rated for 50,000 hours, has a 2700K color temperature and is dimmable. It still has a glass lens, but the length is shorter, so it sits a little more deeply into the housing.
You also can look at the re-trim kits where the LED source and the trim are one unit. The integral trim is designed to act as the heat sink to help maintain the lamp life. Two companies that make 6-inch screw-in versions are Progress Lighting (502 lumen output at 2700K and 584 lumen output at 3500K) and Cree Lighting (pictured, with 650 lumen output in 2700K or 3500K). Both are rated for 50,000 hours. There are other options, but these are the ones I have personally tested and use in my own home.
Q: What is the new LED and CFL technology going to do to the antique lighting industry? I know the owner of a $20,000 original Tiffany lamp who is never going to put anything but an incandescent light bulb in it. Will incandescent light bulbs still be available?
A: There will be incandescent lamps available, especially for historic fixtures; although you may have to smuggle them in from Canada ... like I do with my medications. Your client and others want the type of light they grew up with and are used to. But even incandescent lamps were a pretty new technology when Tiffany lamps were being made. I can imagine the people of the period saying that they would hang onto gaslight and not switch over to Edison’s newfangled bulb.
People love incandescent light for the color, the dimmability and the initial low bulb cost. Consider CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent) lamps instead. A-lamps, flame-tip lamps and G-lamps from companies like Literonics (pictured) look like their incandescent counterparts. They dim with an incandescent dimmer and have a lamp life of 18,000 to 25,000 hours, depending on the type. Although they cost around $12, they do save around $68 over the life of the lamp (based on $0.11/kwh). Hopefully, in the future, mercury-free ESL (electron stimulated luminescence) lamps will offer most of everything we love about incandescent, while providing long life and energy savings.
