Hi all, what is the general concensus about the amount of enery pot lights use? do most people have higher electricity bills if they have alot of pot lights in their house and do most people regret getting pot lights cause of power issue? i think most pot lights use halogen bulbs which are as inneficient as regular incandescent bulbs.
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You'll get lots of varying opinions on that. The basic answer, as I understand it from an engineer friend is YES. But, probably not as much as using a lower wattage bulb. Also, halogen do throw heat, which is where some of their power consumption goes. Also some divided opinions on just how bad that is, since we are in a net heating climate (sorry, I am, here in Toronto, don't know about you - more heating days than cooling days) so even though its not a super efficient kind of heat, you still have to replace that heat with other heat anyway if you use cooler lights like flourescent (that is your electric, gas or whatever heat works just a wee bit harder to make up the difference). These are not just my "opinions" and I can't speak to the science because science isn't my thing, but as I say, this is what an engineer friend explained to me.
if i dim them, does it save on power?
Also, don't put a full room of pots on one switch. Use dimmers and switch them in zones, so you can turn on only the ones you need/want at any time and then finitely control the amount of light they put out.
A dimmer is a good idea but you have to check the type of hallogens you have. I think only some of them will work with dimmers so check first.
We moved into our current house last summer & it has LOTS of pot lights. I can't compare our electricity costs to what they were before the pot lights were installed but I do find our elctricity costs fairly high.
Nonetheless, I love the pot lights. My suggestion though is to also use other lighting alternatives so that you can use the pot lights when needed and can use other fixtures in other situations. The layering of lighting also creates great atmosphere. Also, I would suggest using a dimmer switch on your pot lights.