stupid question about bulb wattage

woodstock

woodstock

Final Approach
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I went to Home Despot yesterday to buy a bunch of bulbs for my various ceiling lights in the foyer. I brought the darn thing home and when I took the fixture off it said "25 watt max" in the fixture (each one takes 4 bulbs). I got the right size but I hadn't replaced these in ages and forgot the wattage requirements. I brought home a bunch of 40s.

crap! is it a fire hazard to put 40s when the max is 25? Do I have to run another errand? drat.
 
i think the problem started when you mentioned you had a foyer. I would not put 40 watt bulbs in a 25watt max fixture. go back and get the right ones :)
 
Use 13w compact floresents (60w equiv.) or less and you have lots of light and a lower electric bill. But yes it is a potential fire hazard because of the heat build up in the fixture.
 
JRitt said:
Use 13w compact floresents (60w equiv.) or less and you have lots of light and a lower electric bill. But yes it is a potential fire hazard because of the heat build up in the fixture.
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That's an interesting question. Are the wattage limits based on heat output or electric draw? IIRC, the flourescents tend to run much cooler, in addition to drawing less power.

But, to answer the initial question, I agree with others. especially WRT incandescents. Don't use higher than the rated wattage.

And Leslie and I also call it Home Despot, affectionately, of course. :goofy:
 
gprellwitz said:
That's an interesting question. Are the wattage limits based on heat output or electric draw? IIRC, the flourescents tend to run much cooler, in addition to drawing less power.
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It's the heat. I fried a chandelier putting 60W bulbs in when it called for 40W. Toasted the ends of those little white fake-candle paper tubes a nice golden brown. I was lucky they didn't ignite.

Regards,
Joe
 
I'd put in the 25's due to the heat. The amount of current is not significantly greater.

If it were occasional use for limited periods of time, I might not bother. But for something that MIGHT be left on for a longer period, I'd get the lower wattage. Especially if they're mounted upside down (heat going up). As noted by someone else, there is often plastic or paper around the recepticle that will not like the extra heat.
 
Hey, part of Clow's land was sold a few years ago and turned over for commercial development. At one end of the airport we now have a Home Depot. On the other, we have a Lowe's! You can easily walk to either of them!
 
bubba said:
woodstock said:
I went to Home Despot yesterday .....

Cracks me up that I am not the only one who calls it "Despot"...

I agree, I wouldn't exceed the placarded limits.
Eric
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I call it that as well. The local one here was built on a nice patch of wetlands that were filled in and it was across the street from Menards. Now no more geese, heron, and sandhill cranes in that area. I don't frequent them because of that.

But to the point you should not exceed the 25Watt limit and as another poster mentioned try compact fluorescents.
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You supporters of Tony Stewart over Jimmie Johnson... such shame!!!! :hairraise:

And, never exceed placarded electrical requirements. That spells "F-I-R-E."
 
gprellwitz said:
Hey, part of Clow's land was sold a few years ago and turned over for commercial development. At one end of the airport we now have a Home Depot. On the other, we have a Lowe's! You can easily walk to either of them!
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NO!!! They should be buying land, not selling it.
 
smigaldi said:
bubba said:
I call it that as well. The local one here was built on a nice patch of wetlands that were filled in and it was across the street from Menards. Now no more geese, heron, and sandhill cranes in that area. I don't frequent them because of that.

But to the point you should not exceed the 25Watt limit and as another poster mentioned try compact fluorescents.
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I thought building on wetlands was illegal?
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astanley said:
That was too far (his package), IMO.
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Completely agreed - biggest pet peeve I can think of - "Mr. CEO, here's your reward for completely SUCKING at your job. Please take this truckload of money and go away." We all pay because of that...
 
wsuffa said:
Not if you replace them with wetlands elsewhere....
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I have a friend who makes a very nice living selling wetland "credits". Basically, if you want to fill in an existing wetland, you don't even have to "build" a new one. If you did you'd have to build twice as much as you destroyed. You just go to good ol' Thomas and purchase some wetland credits, and they'll "build" them for you, (somehow I have doubts). All quite legal and small enough to pass through the biggest loophole that the developers could work into enviromental legalese.
 
bubba said:
Cracks me up that I am not the only one who calls it "Despot"...

Eric
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A true Home Depot story....
We have a good friend from church who works at the local Home Depot. She was over at our house week before last and noticed we had some space heaters around the house. These are the Delonghi brand heaters that are oil filled and are from HD. She works on the overnight restocking crew and run to the dumpster frequently to compact the packing materials. During a recent cold snap, lots of heaters were sold. The major complaint with these oil filled heaters is that they don't start heating the room instantly, the oil inside has to warm up. After that they are fine, and efficient too. Well, it seems that 8 of these heaters were returned for various reasons. Probably some for exchange, others for rerfund. And maybe some because the cold was over and these people just wanted to get through the cold weather and returned them. Not something I agree with, but some people do it. Well, ALL 8 heaters ended up in the dumpster/compacter, and were crushed. It's not just heaters either. Lots of stuff goes in there. They are the Wal-Mart of home improvement and can get credited from the suppliers on a lot of stuff. The reason they do this (according to store management) is so that the store employees won't get them out of the dumpster, give them to a friend, who then returns it to the store for store credit in the form of a gift card that they can then sell at a discount and give/split the money with the employee. Well, I was pretty shocked that they didn't restock them. They only do that if it's completely in the original box, and all the parts can be confirmed to be there. She told me that most of the time thay won't even bother to check. Just isn't worth their time.
Kinda made me sad to think that there are elderly/shutin preople around that would really like to have heat, especially electric heat, as that industry has not been dereglated here in Georgia and natural tripled in price in the past two years.
From this and other stories I've heard from current and former HD employees, it's not a place I'd enjoy working at. And they are GROWING like a weed. I bought some avionics from a HD software developer a while back, and at the time they were opening a new store every 96 HOURS for two months!!:hairraise:
 
My theory with Home Depot is they are so ubiquitous they make all of the U.S. the same, just like how we all lived in rooms painted Sears Autumn Wheat Beige, bought during the spring paint sale.

You have Phillips light bulbs, which really don't last very long. Note that you don't see those anywhere other than Home Depot. I'll make the trip to Ace hardware to get Sylvania or GE bulbs.

I have a great Ace hardware home center just down the road from the new place. This Ace amazed me that it has 2-3 versions of some unusual thing.

I've had too many wasted hours wandering around Home Depot trying to find something only to see they didn't have what I had in mind or I would figure out where something was at HD only find that they moved everything around the next time I visit, or they stopped carrying the item I liked.

I guess at least they forced me to get some exercise walking around in frustration.
 
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mikea said:
I have a great Ace hardware home center just down the road from the new place. I've had too many wasted hours wandering around Home Depot tryintg to find something only to see they didn't have what I had in mind. This Ace amazed me that it has 2-3 versions of some unusual thing.

I would figure out where something was at HD only find that they moved everything around the next time I visit, or they stopped carrying the item I liked. I guess at least they forced me to get some exercise walking around in frustration.
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Mike, as a recently new homeowner I'm glad you have seen the light so much sooner than I ever did.
There's an Ace near to me (3 miles) and HD is 8.5 miles. Not only does Ace have almost all the strange and unique stuff I tend to need, like 3mm fuel hose for weedeaters and such, there is always a person there who not only knows where it is, but they all are retired tradesmen who can even help diagnose and will suggest the best course of action. NOBODY at the HD here knows anything about something like a "deteriorating dip tube" in a 10 year old gas hot water heater, let alone about the lawsuits and subsequent improvements to the tubes. This kind of information prevented me from replacing my water heater last fall, as the boob at HD had told me I'd have to do. it was a $8 piece of plastic instead of the whole heater that needed replacing.
 
gkainz said:
did you get a nice big going away gift like Nardelli?
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Nope. I left to go work for a cargo company. 8-5 no weekends. I did, however, have a lot of guys ask me out when I worked at Home Depot. One guy even gave me a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse. :hairraise:
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
Nope. I left to go work for a cargo company. 8-5 no weekends. I did, however, have a lot of guys ask me out when I worked at Home Depot. One guy even gave me a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse. :hairraise:
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Hey Brook!

When you are up in ACK/Boston again, I'll take you out, no strings attached! I'm happily married, but you can get a free meal out of a trip up here.

Cheers,

-Andrew
who notes that this offer is open to anyone coming through the BOS/PVD/ORH/MHT areas...
 
Frank Browne said:
Usually done in the form of a retention pond. There is no substitite for real wetlands. Just like you can't replace a 300 year old Live Oak with a Crepe Myrtle.
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Yep and now there is a nice pond err retention pond out front that has a wonderful sheen on it from the oil runoff from the parking lot.
 
Keith Lane said:
The reason they do this (according to store management) is so that the store employees won't get them out of the dumpster, give them to a friend, who then returns it to the store for store credit in the form of a gift card that they can then sell at a discount and give/split the money with the employee. Well, I was pretty shocked that they didn't restock them. They only do that if it's completely in the original box, and all the parts can be confirmed to be there. She told me that most of the time thay won't even bother to check. Just isn't worth their time.
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Lot of retail places do that sort of thing. When you hire low-level hourly folks, and you don't pay them very much, that sort of stuff happens. Theft and shrinkage at retail are a huge problem. Besides, the amount of time required to test each item returned is staggering. And many manufacturers do not allow retailers to resell returns, because they're afraid of getting a bad rep.

Retail is tough business to be in.
 
wsuffa said:
Lot of retail places do that sort of thing. When you hire low-level hourly folks, and you don't pay them very much, that sort of stuff happens. Theft and shrinkage at retail are a huge problem. Besides, the amount of time required to test each item returned is staggering. And many manufacturers do not allow retailers to resell returns, because they're afraid of getting a bad rep.

Retail is tough business to be in.
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Oh man... Pork Bellies in Chicago is easier than Lightbulbs in Dubuque... FOR SURE.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
gprellwitz said:
Hey, part of Clow's land was sold a few years ago and turned over for commercial development. At one end of the airport we now have a Home Depot. On the other, we have a Lowe's! You can easily walk to either of them!
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And when one puts the other out of business, it'll make a nice big hangar. :D
 
mikea said:
I have a great Ace hardware home center just down the road from the new place. This Ace amazed me that it has 2-3 versions of some unusual thing.
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Ah, reminds me of Reinhold's Ace Hardware in Milwaukee (22nd and Lisbon).

I was looking for a T-8 Torx driver so I could open up my laptop. Nobody has anything smaller than T-10 generally, and I'd called a ton of places. It was 1993, when not even many laptops had T-8's.

When I called Reinhold's, they said "Sure! We have the T-8 in the traditional screwdriver shape, in an L shape like an allen wrench, or in a bit for an electric screwdriver. Oh, and are you sure it's a T-8? Because we have T-7's and T-6's too..." :eek:

Wow.
 
wsuffa said:
Lot of retail places do that sort of thing. When you hire low-level hourly folks, and you don't pay them very much, that sort of stuff happens. Theft and shrinkage at retail are a huge problem. Besides, the amount of time required to test each item returned is staggering. And many manufacturers do not allow retailers to resell returns, because they're afraid of getting a bad rep.
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I think the cost of shipping defective items back to manufacturers isn't worth the cost these days either.

I just pulled load of, for lack of a better description, random crap from Fort Wayne, IN to Sun Prairie, WI. It originated at a place called "Returns Inc." There were jackets, fishing poles, toys, you name it... Like I said, random crap.

I delivered it to a little tiny place that was about 1/16th of an already very small warehouse. It was just some guy, who buys truckloads of random returned crap (around $10,000 per truckload he said), tests it, sells the good stuff on eBay and discards the rest, making a killing in the process. Amazing.
 
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