Hi,

I have done this in a shower with a recessed can.
I used a 100w equivalent 26w actual bulb and it works fine for about a year now in two bathrooms.

best, Mike.

Try reading all the printing on the base of the lamp. If it is a listed lamp( such as UL), it will be required to have certain statements printed on the lamp that may restrict the usage of that lamp.

Some of the things you might see are
"Use in dry locations only", "not for use in luminaires controlled by a dimmer", "not for use in a totally enclosed recessed fixture", "not for use where directly exposed to water."

So, since your fixture is recessed and totally enclosed, you do not want to use a lamp that states it should not be used in a totally enclosed fixture.

You mean all those fuzzy black lines say something?

Actually, I've noted the no dimmer and no direct contact with water and there is nothing about enclosed fixtures. I was mainly curious if others were using them in this application and if any problems had been encountered.

I have two 5" recessed cans over my shower with shower trims and I have CFL bulbs in them and so far so good (I think I am using 13w?)

You might be interested in this link

Here is a link that might be useful: Safety Warning for CFLs

The posted link has nothing to do with moisture. What's more, IMO, there's an element of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) to the piece.

True, CFs - especially cheap ones - can fail in some hazardous ways (though, in spite of the fact that I've been using them for 14 years, I've never witnessed this). Well, so can incandescent lamps and standard fluorescent ballasts. So can any appliance. Halogen torchieres have been implicated in hundreds or thousands of fires. By that standard we should all open our main breakers and use gaslight and candles. Oops, now THERE's a fire hazard.

Those opposed to progress can always find some way to cite its "dangers." The autombile was deemed dangerous, too, and if the FUD specialists of the day had had their way, we'd all still be riding horses. What a great idea. Just think of all the jobs cleaning up after them.

I'm not suggesting that we ignore end of life risks for CFs, just that (1) this warning should be kept in perspective; and (2) it has nothing to do with the subject of this thread.

davidr, i agree with you. though i DO have to point out tha ti have seen a "spectacular failure" 3 times with CFLs. 2 were out of the same box and they caught fire as soon as power was applied, the 3rd was a different one b a different manufacturer and it blew some pretty white light in the microseconds before it went dark for good. THAT one i had my hand on as it happened! i had cracked it when the ladder twisted on me, thus causing the failure. the other 2 had direct shorts in them, as did the others in that box, just a bad batch of cheap bulbs there.

i still believe in using CFLs when you can, and there ARE outdoor rated ones available. i saw some at Lowes the other day that were outdoor/wet location rated, so they should be fine for a shower.

I've been using the outside CFLs for a few years now. Usually get about 14 months of constant on before failure.

As far as the article goes, I agree with Davidr, not much substance, and I would think it would be safer in an enclosed fixture. I have started using the CFLs in recessed fixtures with shower trim, so we will see how they hold up. So far, the clients like the better light.

davidr wrote:

"I'm not suggesting that we ignore end of life risks for CFs, just that (1) this warning should be kept in perspective; and (2) it has nothing to do with the subject of this thread."

I don't want to start a war here.. but, did you read the advisory? It was about CFLs, and it specifically talked about CFLs in totally enclosed recessed fixtures-isn't that 'CFL in a shower'?

isn't that 'CFL in a shower'?

Thanks, I did see that; but the OP's question was, "Can these bulbs handle a damp location like a shower?"

I have seen a "spectacular failure" 3 times with CFLs.

Maybe you buy cheaper ones than I do?

I used to get Osram-Sylvania when they were made in Germany, $12-15 each; later some of the Taiwan-made helical CFs from them, at about $10-11 each. These days I tend to buy Philips Marathon, $12-14 each.

I'm leery of $5 or less CFs, so that may be one reason I've never had one fail in an unsettling fashion.

davidr, the bad batch was a no name el cheapo brand. we had used them before, but this box was just a bad batch. teh 3rd one I damaged installing it. i had the fixture on, and it blew up in my hand. i can tell you that it was HOT!!! i never came off a 8 ft ladder quicker than that in my life, with the exception of the time the red wasps got after me!

we don't buy the cheap ones any more, but we don't buy the most expensive either. whenever they have quality ones on sale we pick up a box or two. heck, right now i have 4-5 extras in the cabinet, i just have to figure out which fixtures need them the most. i have almost swapped out all my incandescents to CFL.

i use CFL's in my bathroom vent lights, since we leave those on 5-6 hours a day so our 3 year old can go pee-pee.

He goes pee pee on your vent lights???? :)

I've had a CFL in my shower light for over 10 years. The same bulb. Never changed it once I put it in. I couldn't tell you the brand, but it was probably a good one, since they were a bit on the pricy side 10 years ago. In that 10 years, I've continued to switch out to CFLs in most of my fixtures and have quite a few bulbs in the 5 years plus. I even have a CFL in an external globe light fixture that is photo cell activated and has lasted about 7 years burning every night. The cheapskate in me loves CFLs!

The thing about CFLs that I find annoying is excessive lag from when the switch is flipped and light is actually produced. Some older GE's we have are close to 1.5 seconds... and eternity in this age of instant gratification ;-)

Well, I had developed and aversion to Sylvania (their incandescents always seemed to burn out way too soon) but decided to try one of their CFLs one day. Was I impressed--it was the first CFL I'd ever used that was instant-on... we're talking zero-lag here. So I've been changing out our old GE's... heck, even some of our incandescents now... with the Sylvania CFLs.

But I'm curious... are all of the new CFL ballasts this fast now?

are all of the new CFL ballasts this fast now?

Not all, but most of them are pretty quick.

Thank goodness none of them is as bad as the very early magnetic ballast retrofit CFs. Those were the ones that had thermal starters. They blinked and flickered as they struck, and sometimes tipped over table lamps because of their weight.

I remember one outfit in the early '90s that provided a ballast in a wall wart to make the lamp fit better and weigh less. It was pretty good for its time. But I digress.

Most CFs are now instant start, but some still take a while to come to full brightness. This generates user complaints. However, it's been much improved in recent years. I'm guessing it takes some creative engineering to add more features while shrinking the physical size of the ballast. When I look at the size of a small can linear fixture ballast, I marvel at the fact that they can squeeze similar (though not eqivalent)functionality into a spool maybe an inch and a half in diameter and an inch or so high.

He goes pee pee on your vent lights???? :)

she, and no she just refuses to go into any room that is not 100% lit up.

Finally received a reply from Philips Lighting about this:

"Thank you for contacting Philips Lighting. We do not recommend using CFL's in enclosed fixtures. Doing this will result in premature failure. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to call us on our technical hotline (# deleted).

"Regards,
Philips Lighting"

That's the official word from a bulb manufacturer.

And incandescent bulbs can spark, smoke, and occasionally explode at end of life.
Next problem.