Need help with Compact Fluorescent

Need help with Compact Fluorescent California Home

Our vanity bathroom has a 26W Nutone Compact Fluorescent 2 pin light / with fan - ceiling light. ( the light appears to be about 9 inches long)

It is so dark with this light in the bathroom. I am desperately trying to get a brighter light...I searched all over the internet. Went to Home Depot etc. No luck. Not sure why they do not make brighter lights for 2 pin Compact Fluorescents.

Any suggestions..where I can a brighter 2 pin Compact Fluorescent light.

FYI....I am not handy.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks Anna

Reply to
anna
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Reply to
BruceR

Even a max wattage standard incandescent doesn't produce much light out of our Nutone fan/light fixtures. I was surprised how much light that plastic diffuser blocks. It was MUCH brighter when the cover was off while we painted the ceiling. I tried one of those extra bright "krypton" bulbs, but it didn't help that much. A separate light for general illumination is pretty much necessary.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Volp

You could just replace the diffuser with a square of clear Lexan.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

Not very easy because it is a rectangular molded "box". And a clear Lexan panel would be pretty ugly. I'd like to replace them anyway because those supposedly "quiet" fans make a lot of noise.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Volp

Reply to
BruceR

The quietest exhaust fans I've found mount in the attic, away from the fixture. I had one in a bathroom we remodeled in my CT home. The light fixture was bright and the fan was almost inaudible. You can use a "duct booster" fan for the job. Also, depending on the size and shape of your bathroom, it may be more effective to use a separate vent and light.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

Yep, put a Fantech unit in ours and it's great. The air moving through the grille makes just enough noise to let you know it's running. But no fan racket at all. During the renovation and sanding drywall it was interesting it pulling dust from 6' away.

That and they make a low voltage lamp assembly that fits into the center of the grille. Light and exhaust right where you need it without undue AC voltage risk.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

If the bulb is even a few months old, the constant use it sees in a bathroom may have caused it to darken considerably. Bathroom CFLs see very early degradation because of the typically large number of short on/off cycles per day. If it's older than a few months, you should notice a substantial improvement in the amount of light emitted from the fixture by replacing the current bulb with a brand new one.

Have you contacted NuTone? Does there appear to be enough space for a larger bulb? A brighter CFL most often means a larger one. Even if there's enough space, you have to abide by the wattage and bulb recommendation marked on the fixture. It may be that the built-in ballast can't power a larger bulb.

Installing a second light or a new fan with a larger light bulb(s) would be the best option, though. In this horrible housing downturn, I find contractors are much more willing to return calls and discount their work. Make some calls. The electrical lines are already run to the ceiling. It's a matter of cutting another hole and "teeing" off the existing unit's wiring and it might even be possible to do it without needing any repainting.

There's considerable evidence to suggest that living with dim lighting causes people to become depressed. I had to add multiple lights to my dim little bathroom (a single glass fixture over the vanity mirror!) but it was worth the effort.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

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