Lighting choice for a very hot room?

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greenspark1

Senior Member
Location
New England
I'm looking into installing lighting in a manufacturing building with ambient temperatures expected to hit 160F easily. I haven't found any fixtures rated for higher than a 149F ambient. Anyone have suggestions for fixtures or manufacturers?

I want to stay away from LED since they don't perform well when hot.
Metal halide are inefficient and poor for many on/off cycles.
How do fluorescent bulbs hold up in high heat?
Any experience with induction in a similar area?
Thanks for any input!
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
The mercury pressure inside a fluorescent tube is determined by the temperature of the coldest part of the glass envelope. In a very hot room they will be higher and the mercury pressure will be higher.
This may lead to less efficient operation and/or shorter life.
The ballast, whether magnetic or electronic may have to be located remotely.
Some luminaires are designed for ducted air flow to remove heat from the fixture directly to the outside, reducing A/C load.
Could you use such luminaires to instead provide cool air to the lamp area?
 

greenspark1

Senior Member
Location
New England
We ended up putting incandescent lamps in a boiler room recently. To hot for anything else. The florescent thermals tripped before the fixtures were turned on.

Thanks for the feedback, sounds like this is a common problem.

There's no cooling being provided for the space, just some exhaust fans & louvers. I'll try to keep the lights lower to avoid the stratified hot air but it's tough for a wide open space.

Ouch, I would really like to avoid using old Edison technology for this ~2500sf space. I am surprised no one is making specialty lights for this. There must be thousands of boiler-type rooms across the country!
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Thanks for the feedback, sounds like this is a common problem.

There's no cooling being provided for the space, just some exhaust fans & louvers. I'll try to keep the lights lower to avoid the stratified hot air but it's tough for a wide open space.

Ouch, I would really like to avoid using old Edison technology for this ~2500sf space. I am surprised no one is making specialty lights for this. There must be thousands of boiler-type rooms across the country!
Someone may make it, but it wasn't worth the effort. A million btu from a 40 year old boiler and we were to worry about 200 watt vs 50 watt lamps. No, dont think so.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
How about either something mounted low that directs light upward (or both up and down) if you can make that work somehow or recessed or otherwise somehow enclosed so it can be recessed and provide air flow behind the surface to keep the luminaire cooled?

Incandescent is the easy way out but someday will likely need changed to more efficient technology just because it is not so readily available, and maybe you do not want to have to change lamps in this environment all that often either.
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
I'm looking into installing lighting in a manufacturing building with ambient temperatures expected to hit 160F easily. I haven't found any fixtures rated for higher than a 149F ambient. Anyone have suggestions for fixtures or manufacturers?

I want to stay away from LED since they don't perform well when hot.
Metal halide are inefficient and poor for many on/off cycles.
How do fluorescent bulbs hold up in high heat?
Any experience with induction in a similar area?
Thanks for any input!

Why not use light pipes? I believe 3M has a product. Solatube offers solutions as well.
 

wyreman

Senior Member
Location
SF CA USA
Occupation
electrical contractor
We use 300 W incandescent mogul base I think they are in the pie tin fixtures


In belief, man can do anything
 

Cincycaddy

Member
Location
Cincinnati, OH
I know you aren't wanting to go Metal Halide but we ran into a similar issue on a Iron Ore plant we did last year. Had to find fixtures for above, around and adjacent to the burners. Unconditioned buildings with fans and louvers. We ended up specifying a Holophane MH w/ -4F to 149F. Do you really expect 160F where you will be mounting your fixtures?
 

dan198741

Member
Location
usa
The mercury pressure inside a fluorescent tube is determined by the temperature of the coldest part of the glass envelope. In a very hot room they will be higher and the mercury pressure will be higher.
This may lead to less efficient operation and/or shorter life.
The ballast, whether magnetic or electronic may have to be located remotely.
Some luminaires are designed for ducted air flow to remove heat from the fixture directly to the outside, reducing A/C load.
Could you use such luminaires to instead provide cool air to the lamp area?


High temperature will only affect light output on a fluorescent lamp. Lamp life is determined by how the ballast operates the bulb. If the lamp is not designed for high temperature then you will probably get lower lumens. Some Non-I Compact Fluorescent are offered with amalgam and so the light output is determined by the temperature of the amalgam inside the lamp base (which is more constant) and not of the coldest spot as in linear fluorescents.
For Non-I Compact Fluorescent ballasts there are options for 90C (194F). The problem is the lamps are normally made with 140F plastic bases so there is the limiting factor. If there is a way to circulate the air surrounding the lamps an keep it below 140F then this may be an option to consider.
 
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