replacing flourescent lights with can lights

[Phil Horning]

We want to replace the flourescent lights in our kitchen with recessed lights, possibly using compact flourescent bulbs. How do we determine how many can lights it will take to maintain the same amount of light as the flourescent lights?

[596]

Al Gore would say tsk. tsk. The building code, here in San Diego would say nay nay.

A kitchen is an area which needs a lot of general area lighting, which is what you get from the 4' fluorescent fixtures. Can lights give you task and accent lighting.

As for the comparison, lets say you have two 4-bulb 4' fixtures. That is 320 watts of fluorescent lighting. You would need 10 ,32watt, can lights to approximate that amount of light.

[buckofdurham]

You can get some commercial recessed lights with flourescsent bulbs. ( Not compact flourescent) These will have a highly reflective lens and put out quite a bit of light. They will cost you though. 4-5 times as much as normal residential recessed.

[kaitlin]

Test out a few of the new compact fluorescent light bulbs in your existing incandescent or halogen lighting fixtures. You don't have to upgrade to new fixtures, although doing so will save you even more money over the long run. Plan to see your electric bill skyrocket. If, after trying the new technology, you decide you truly are dissatisfied with the performance of compact fluorescent bulbs and you replace them with incandescent or halogen bulbs, your electric bill will increase due to the fact that incandescent bulbs cost 75% more to operate than compact fluorescent ones.

[Speedy Petey]

Kaitlin:

A) This post is almost a month old. I hope he has made his decision by now.

B) Changing a few lamps in a kitchen will NOT make an electric bill "skyrocket".

[buckofdurham]

Originally Posted by Speedy Petey

Kaitlin:

A) This post is almost a month old. I hope he has made his decision by now.

B) Changing a few lamps in a kitchen will NOT make an electric bill "skyrocket".

Speedy Pete would have had them in by now.