Are LED Light Bulbs a Fire Risk

[sailorman]

I started a slow conversion from incandescent to LED light bulbs in my house today . Then I considered fire risk because if the heat sink in LED 's . Info on internet falls about 50 - 50 on both sides of the fence . What do ya 'll think ? I don 't want to burn down my house .

I 've got various types of fixtures in my house . Recessed Can floods in kitchen ceiling . Enclosed and open ceiling fixtures . Open horizontal mounted fixture over bath room mirror . All except floods ( 65 W ) use 60 W incandescent .

 

[4570Man]

I have a few LEDs in recessed can lights. They seem to burn much cooler.

 

[newbury]

I just blinded myself trying to get the temp of two bulbs in can lights above me using my HF IR laser thermometer.
Both bulbs are 60W "equivalent". The CFL was about 95 degrees F, the LED about 78 degrees F. Room temp based on the HF AND another thermometer is 60 F.

I had NOT expected them to be that cool, I can remember having to wait for incandescent bulbs to cool before changing.

 

[sailorman]

Man and Newbury thanks for the early responses .

 

[Looking4new]

LEDs are a lot cooler than CFLs and I have read that CFLs may explode. That is why I got rid of them and switched my whole house over to LEDs.

 

[k0ua]

Yeah I have put my hand on them while they are running. Can't do that with most of the incandescents. There is some heat, but nothing you would call "hot"

 

[dragoneggs]

Yeah LEDs in the typical wattage used around the house put out very little heat thus the reason they are much more efficient than incandescents. I think if you are buying reputable brands or from reputable sources your risk is extremely low. High wattage LEDs packed in small packages for special applications such as reef aquarium lighting often have integral fans to help keep cool the electronics that are sensitive to that but even they do not put out dangerous heat levels.

 

[sailorman]

Thanks for the replies everyone . I 'm feelin ' ok with the LED 's .

 

[sld]

Just look at the watts consumed. That is a measure of how much heat they generate.

 

[Mendonsy]

The reason that you see heat sinks on LED lights is that the LED's will fail from too much heat so they are using the heat sink to dissipate the small amount of heat that the LED's generate.
Incandescent lights work better when they are HOT but LED's will fail at those temperatures. An LED light will always run much cooler than the equivalent incandescent light.

 

[Looking4new]

Another happy customer.:cool2:

 

[Paddy]

Feel the base of an LED, they do get quite warm. Globe is cool, so it's odd

 

[k0ua]

Feel the base of an LED, they do get quite warm. Globe is cool, so it's odd

You are feeling the power supply in the base that converts the 120 Volts AC of the line voltage to the DC low voltage the LED can make use of. All power supply's have losses. None are 100 percent efficient. That inefficiency is the heat loss you are feeling. Mostly. Of course the LED has some heat dissipation itself as it does not convert the DC power to light 100 percent either.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Yep, bases get a little warm but no where near a CFL or incandescent. Halogen bulbs produce the most heat and most of them are safe when used in the proper fixture.
I cant imagine anything other than butter that might be affected by the heat from an LED and then only melting would occur (no fire)

 

[Bird]

In January & February of last year I replaced every light bulb on the place with LEDs except the Liftmaster Garage Door Opener bulbs that didn't work with LEDs and the appliance bulbs (oven, refrigerator, microwave). Some were from Walmart, some from Lowes, some from Home Depot; none have failed yet.

 

[HEC]

Maybe a word of caution with led !!!!!!!!!!! Put an led in one of our small lamps and the shade had a metal bracket to hold the shade on the bulb . The bulb began to get much dimmer so I shut it off and could tell it was very hot . I later took it out and put it in another location after it cooled off to see if was still bad and it worked fine . I put a regular bulb back in the lamp with no issues . Not sure if the metal from the shade caused the problem or what but it sure got hot .

 

[sailorman]

Finished changing bulbs for now . 18 60w and 9 65 w floods . Went from 1665 w total to 252 w total . A reduction of 1414 w . Got 6 more 60 w to go, but ran out of bulbs and a few odd shaped bulbs that I may not be able to find LED equivalents for .

 

[dragoneggs]

Finished changing bulbs for now . 18 60w and 9 65 w floods . Went from 1665 w total to 252 w total . A reduction of 1414 w . Got 6 more 60 w to go, but ran out of bulbs and a few odd shaped bulbs that I may not be able to find LED equivalents for .

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: In the process myself. But I am having a hard time throwing out working incandescents. So my rule is that one light of the cluster must be out before swapping out. :dance1:

 

[Toyboy]

I have an interesting thing going on. I replaced 4 small 45w flood lights -- 2 over fireplace and 2 over kitchen sink -- with LE brand BR20 8w recessed flood LED's 45w equivalent. When I get up in the morning and it's still dark those 4 lights have what appears a dull glow. None of the 65wLED's that Ive changed out do this. Odd phenomenon, almost like they are retaining some power. One of these days I'll have to get the ladder and unscrew one to see if that makes a difference. I really don't know what to make of it. Anyone else have this happen to them??

Item specifics

Type: LED Bulb
Certification: ISO90012008, ROHS Brand:
Lighting Ever
Color Temperature: 2700K Base Type: E26 (U.S. Standard)
Input Voltage (v): 120 AC Wattage: 8W
Bulb Shape: BR20 MPN:
Incandescent Equivalent(W): 45 LED Quantity: 20
Brightness: 450LM Material: Plastic

 

[sailorman]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: In the process myself. But I am having a hard time throwing out working incandescents. So my rule is that one light of the cluster must be out before swapping out. :dance1:

I don 't through them away . I keep them for temporary emergency use . Also I have a few incandescent in my pump house for heating the pipes so I can use them their .