Lighting

 I've always had a problem with my kitchen ceiling 4' fluorescent light.  It is attached to the ceiling.  Every Summer when the temps get up to 90F, it doesn't want to light.  It flickers, but won't light up fully.

I had an electrician here for other work some years ago and asked him about it.  I assumed he would replace the ballast.  Well, I can hook up wires because the logic is ppretty obvious.  But I'm no electrician. I barely udersrtand what a ballast is and I sure would try to replace one.

He asked if I had new tubes.  I did and changed them.  The light came right on.  I have no idea why he didn't want to get some money for replacing the ballast, but maybe he thought it wouldn't help.

So every July, I replace the tubes.  Until this year, that worked.  It's the heat from the attic.  If it wasn't, why else would the light fail in Summer?  But this year, I replaced the tubes and they only lasted 3 days!

I had to consider separating the light from the ceiling or replacing it entirely.   Either way, a suspended fixture to free it from the attic heat.  I considered an attic fan, but those can be noisy...

And then we had a cooler week and the light worked again.  Clear proof it is heat-related...

So I decided to replace the fluorescent tube fixture with a 5-LED light suspended fixture I found.  I could hook that up.  Its just a couple of obvious wires and a few screws in the ceiling to hang it 4" below.  Or I could detach the existing fixture and suspend IT.  Either would probably work, but I'm not thrilled about messing with electricity these days myself.

Like, I was working on replacing a ceiling fixture in the basement and I felt "pulses".  Well, if I hadn't been sitting on a wooden ladder, I might have electrocuted myself!  So I favor hiring someone these days. Everyone has skills; electricity is "iffy" for me.

So I did some research about fluorescent vs LED fixtures!

Both are efficient.  Both are better than incandescent bulbs.  Both last a long time.

But what matters is "lumens" and "color temperature/light spectrum".  Watts are electric demands, lumens are brightness, color is the visible light.  Just saying it in case you don't know, it can get confusing...  

I assumed that LED bulbs were not only more energy-efficient than fluorescents, but provided more lumens.  I was wrong!

As I stood in the DIY store light aisle, I compared wattage to lumens.  And a watt is a watt.  You pay by the watts.  Well, to my surprise, fluorescents provided more lumens per watt than LEDS!  Check it if you want to...

Two 40 watt fluorescent tubes provided more lumens (brightness) at equal color temperatures than 40 watt LED bulbs did!  

I love that LEDs can be turned on and off without damage to their life-span.  I love that they fit into any standard incandescent socket.  I love that they last 10 years.  I have them almost everywhere these days.

But for my kitchen light to provide the brightness I like, fluorescents are better.  I think I will take a shot at lowering the existing kitchen ceiling light to escape it from the attic heat.