Re: [RE-wrenches] Wood shop lighting

[Todd Cory]

Another efficiency option is to wire the 4 tube fixtures with two sets of two lamps that are independently switchable. Or you could get really fancy and have three lighting levels by switching one lamp on, three lamps on or all four in each fixture. That way there are options for various lighting levels depending on the needs. Todd Travis Creswell wrote: Continuous rows of four 4’ lamp T-8 fixtures (8’ long) on 8’-12’ centers would be the ideal lighting system in terms of performance, efficiency, installed price and maintenance cost.  T-5’s are actually slightly less efficient and really don’t make sense at mounting heights less then 20’.  Plus T-5 lose more light output then T-8 as temperatures decrease which starts to become noticeable at 60f and really noticeable at 50f.  Most shops are kept warm unless they are being used and on the colder days it could take hours for the T-5 lights to get to full output.   I suggest continuous rows because that gives the owner a very uniformly lit space and tons of flexibility when he decides to reconfigure the shop in the future.  “I can’t put this machine over there because that’s the dark corner”.  The fewer the fixtures the worse the shadows which are a bad thing in work shops and continuous rows are essentially shadow free.  For energy purposes I would switch every other fixture for times when not as much light is needed.  IE; 42’ long shop/8’ long fixtures = 5 fixtures per row with 1’ gap on each end of the row, 3 fixtures per row on one switch and two on the other.  I would suggest the basic commodity grade 8’ white painted fixture that every electrical supplier stocks plenty of.  Typical cost is $40-$45 each.  No need for hoods (reflectors) at the heights you mention especially if the ceiling is white.  5000k 800 series lamps are the best lamp for this application.   F32T8SPX50 would be the GE part number and your local supplier can easily cross that with what ever brand they carry.   Best, Travis Creswell Ozark Energy Services

_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine

List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org

Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org