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BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall?
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BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? |
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Subject: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Rapparee Date: 04 Dec 12 - 09:24 PM We are redoing a bathroom. It wasn't planned that way, but there seems to have been water leakage through the tub caulking and, well, you get the picture. Anyway, is there any reason why circular or "puff" fluorescent lights cannot be hung on a wall instead of a ceiling? Being of semi-sound mind (and being an IBEW supporter) I'd have an electrician do the work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: GUEST,marks(on the road) Date: 05 Dec 12 - 12:33 AM Can't think of any objection as long as it is mounted where you will not bunk into it with an elbow, head, mop handle, etc. And as long as you will have a qualified electrician do the work, should not be a problem unless there is a code violation which none of us can think of right now. But your electrician may know better. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: GUEST,BobL Date: 05 Dec 12 - 05:06 AM There are probably regs - there are in the UK, at least - requiring a minimum separation between things electrical* and things wet, which will limit where you can have the light. I think also that bathroom lighting, whether wall or ceiling mounted, has to be totally enclosed nowadays, i.e. splashproof. Your qualified electrician will know. * (shaver sockets are excepted as they have an isolating transformer) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Pete Jennings Date: 05 Dec 12 - 06:30 AM We've got an illuminated mirror on our bathroom wall - it's fully enclosed with two flourescent strips inside, i.e., as BobL says, it's splashproof. You should also bear in mind that bathrooms sometimes become full of condensation... A qualified electrician is required for all electrical installations here in the UK - especially for bathrooms. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Jim Carroll Date: 05 Dec 12 - 07:24 AM Yes - as long as it is out of reach of the taps (faucets, if you are a Yank) While (as a retired apprenticeship - served electrician) I agree that a qualified tradesman is preferable, most simple installations such as this are fairly commonsense as long as you understand colour coding - as I've been told endlessly, especially about sound and electronic systems - when in doubt R T F M In my experience, the UK regulations became a nightmare, largely because they were drawn up by desk-bound jobsworths with no practical knowledge. I understand that they have relaxed somewhat - I sincerely hope so. Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Rapparee Date: 05 Dec 12 - 09:34 AM It would be mounted about eight feet from the shower/bath and above the faucets, sealed against condensation (electrocution would be a shocking event!). All of the circuits in that room are on ground fault interrupters, so while the person might be knocked out the door the lights and appliances would still work. I found out that I really wasn't much of an electrician many, many years ago when I wired some old light-weight twisted wire to two heavy lag bolts so I could experiment with the arc. I plugged it in and not only blew out the circuit breakers but melted the insulation off the wire from the plug forward. My mother was not pleased. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 05 Dec 12 - 10:25 AM Info and things to think about: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,403815-2,00.html As a woman, I want lights that make me look good. This means warm lighting, which will bring out the pink in me. Other people want very accurate light so they can see how their makeup really looks. It sounds like you are putting the fixture up high, because if it's above the faucets it's probably also above a mirror. If so, it will cast shadows under your eyes and make you look bad. And as the years go by, it will be more and more of a pain to change that bulb. "Pink rooms make people look good", though I wonder if that applies to non-whites. As the article says, a dimmer is nice. For example, when you have to get up in the middle of the night, soft light is more kind to your eyes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: JohnInKansas Date: 05 Dec 12 - 12:32 PM All of the wiring, and especially any outlets in a bathroom should be wired through a GFI. In newer US construction it's fairly common to put a single GFI in one bathroom and wire a second bathroom off the same "GFI protected" circuit. "Tube type" fluorescents, whether stright or circled, generally don't present much problem with which side up they're installed. A pair of vertical tubes, one each side of the mirror, is fairly common here. Early "compact fluorescent" bulbs often carried a warning that they should be installed "base up" but that instruction hasn't appeared on any bulbs I've seen for at least a couple of years so it's apparently not a consideration now. Most of the readily available fluorescents should never be connected through an ordinary dimmer, although it is possible to find "dimmable" fluorescent fixtures and tubes. They were significantly more expensive than "regular fluorescents" the last time I looked, but I don't know what the going rate is now. To be dimmable, the tubes need to operate off RF power, which requires a dedicated "PWM converter" and some may interfere with radio/TV/wireless devices if not carefully applied. Leenia's link went to page 2 of the article. If you want to start at the beginning, try Bathroom Lighting. I'd consider the article somewhat superficial, more appropriate for telling the guys what the gals will like so that guy will give his (totally unnecessary) permission for her to get a proper contractor to actually do it right; but then I'm sometimes a bit fussy about such stuff. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Bert Date: 05 Dec 12 - 01:51 PM ... A qualified electrician is required for all electrical installations here in the UK... When did that change Pete? When I was in England I used to do all my home electrical work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Jim Carroll Date: 05 Dec 12 - 02:53 PM "A qualified electrician is required for all electrical installations here in the UK." If that is the case now, it's only happened over the last dozen years. Anybody can/could carry out their own electrical work and could work for anybody else as long as the finished job did not require a safety certificate (sometimes this was a requirement for insurance purposes, but it was not universal). If someone was selling a house, an inspection certificate may have been asked for, but again, this was never an automatic requirement. I served a five year apprenticeship and worked forty years as a qualified electrician - I refused to register with one of the qualified organisation as I resented the idea that after that long experience I would have had to go back to school to pass exams set by a bunch of tossers who wouldn't know the difference between a screwdriver and a jam butty. As a self-employed tradesman, I had more than enough work to earn a living and I passed on around two dozen regular customers to another tradesman when I moved to Ireland - that was in 1998. I haven't heard that things have changed in any way - I might be wrong though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: GUEST,Peter Date: 05 Dec 12 - 03:35 PM This document on Canterbury council web site explains the rules. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Bobert Date: 05 Dec 12 - 04:19 PM Yes... Piece of cake, Rap... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: GUEST,999 Date: 05 Dec 12 - 04:38 PM Can I hang fluorescent lights upon the wall? And put them near the bath and shower stall? I am no magician Will I need an electrician To ensure I don't screw up and fry my nuts. I got a hit on my hands here. Needs a little work is all. Bear with me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: gnu Date: 05 Dec 12 - 05:17 PM leeneia... "As a woman, I want lights that make me look good. This means warm lighting, which will bring out the pink in me." WHERE CAN I GET SOME OF THESE WARM LIGHTS? Hahahahahaaa! >;-) 9.... yeah, there is DEFinitely a song in that. NO doubt! I immediately thought of a tune for it but it ain't yer style. It's a Jethro Tull tune. It probably wouldn't fit for anyone but that's off the top of my head with no exploration. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Bobert Date: 05 Dec 12 - 05:25 PM You've written a lot better songs that that one, brucie... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Bobert Date: 05 Dec 12 - 05:30 PM BTW, mercury vapor doesn't know up from down of left from right... Perfectly okay, Rap... It's easy... Fishing the wire to where you are going to set your junction box is the hardest part but not rocket surgery... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: gnu Date: 05 Dec 12 - 05:30 PM Don't know shit bout electrickery Don' know if I really need to be Bathed in soft glowing lights Or need to be lit up at all Don't wanna fry my nuts and take a fall |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Nigel Parsons Date: 05 Dec 12 - 06:35 PM A cautionary tale: LORD FINCHLEY Hilaire Belloc Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right! It is the business of the wealthy man To give employment to the artisan. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Bill D Date: 05 Dec 12 - 08:39 PM Side note about what JiK posted on compact fluorescents. I've got several dimmable fluorescent bulbs now. They have a smaller dimmable range, but seem to work ok. One says "must be used with 'leading edge' dimmers"... which seems to be the usual type.(and it says it will last for 22 years! (at 3 hrs a day!) Damn bulb may outlast ME! They are getting better all the time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: michaelr Date: 05 Dec 12 - 10:40 PM Gee, Rap, I thought you were talking about those black-light Jimi Hendrix posters... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: open mike Date: 05 Dec 12 - 11:27 PM here bldg inspectors can enforce regs that allow only a certain percentage of flourescnets...for instance in the kitchen you have 50% incandescent and 50% flourescnets/// |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Rapparee Date: 06 Dec 12 - 12:15 AM Good luck to 'em, open mic. Federal law is phasing out incandescents. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: gnu Date: 06 Dec 12 - 04:54 AM Same here, Rap except that the deadline has been extended. What about people who suffer from migraine headaches triggered by fluorescent bulbs? They are damned dangerous when they break and not everyone is gonna wear saftey quip when they handle them. I think you'll see regs that require a glass shield over them. I bought enough incandescent bulbs (cheap on sale) to last me the rest of my life. Unlike you, I am mortal. I'll leave them to you in my will. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Rapparee Date: 06 Dec 12 - 08:51 AM Mortal? As in sin? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: leeneia Date: 06 Dec 12 - 10:54 AM Gnu, the kind of fluorescent fixtures that flickered went out in the 1970's. ======== "I'd consider the article somewhat superficial, more appropriate for telling the guys what the gals will like..." Not so, John. The article deals with kinds of lights and what kind of dimmers each needs, and that's just one example. I also learned that some people think they need a light in their shower. What!? A bathroom that "the gals will like" will probably be a more enjoyable and usable room. Nobody goes into their renovated bathroom and says, "I love it that this room is clinical, energy-efficient and the cheapest we could do!" What you want is to say, "This room looks great and I look great in it! And WE did it!" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: gnu Date: 06 Dec 12 - 06:22 PM leeneia... so a fellow Mudcatter doesn't know what she is talking bout and lost her job for notihing? I shall refer her to this immediately! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Greg F. Date: 06 Dec 12 - 06:31 PM Gnu, the kind of fluorescent fixtures that flickered went out in the 1970's. Not so - thay all are keyed into the 60 cycles per second U.S. or 50 CPS European standard alternating current - and they do indeed flicker, compared to incandescent bulbs. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: Bobert Date: 06 Dec 12 - 06:35 PM Pay my air fare and I'll come out and give ya' a week's worth of fixin' what ever you need fixed in yer house... No computers... No electronic devices, like TVs... No wives... Everything else I fix... Oh, you have to furnish beer and cheeze sammiches, too... You got tools??? No... Can you borrow some???? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Can I hang fluorescents on the wall? From: GUEST Date: 06 Dec 12 - 07:08 PM Greg- I suspect there are Compact Fluorescents and other things called the same name. The fluorescent light is highly nonlinear. When you turn on, the tube is an insulator- not all the volts in the wall can make it conduct and light up. But give it a jiggle- traditionally by a resonant circuit incolving a big inductor and a capacitor and neon bulb that wore out regularly (those things you had to change when it went blinky), it starts conducting, and then you can't stop it. The big inductor served again by dropping most of the volts once it had started. The CFL is compact because it does away with that effing great inductor, and replacing it with an electronic circuit that provides the initial kick, and controls the current using transistors when it's finally on. The whole electronic circuit is inside a rectifier, which has a capcitor to smooth out the remains of the 50 or 60 Hertz after rectification. And I suspect this is where quality shows. If the capacitor is big enough and robust enough, it will smooth out the mains flicker beyond perceptibility. But China has a dilemma- produce good stuff and be as expensive as the West, or produce cheap shite and kill the West's industry, and hope that by the time you've noticed it's crap, it's too late. A too- small capacitor will flicker from the word go, but a lot of people will only see the 99p price tag and will buy it, so EuropriceCo at 2.99 will go bust. A big enough capacitor that's underrated for voltage or ripple current or lifespan will last a few weeks or months before it cooks and makes the light flicker, so the Waitrose mob will buy it at 3.99 against EuroqualCo 5.99, and he will go bust. Either way, you end up with a choice of crap or stinking crap. |
