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    downrange's Avatar
    downrange Posts: 55, Reputation: 1
    Junior Member
     
    #1

    Nov 9, 2010, 08:42 AM
    Adding light to my garage
    I have an aproxmently 28x32 garage. I currently 8ea 27 watt CFL bulbs and 1 8 ft flourscent running off a 15 amp breaker. Would it be better to add more of the CFL bulbs to get better lighting or add another breaker and run 4 ft flourscent light. What I was thinking is to have about 15 of the CFL bulbs or I could do about 12 of 4ft flourscents. Looks like to me the 15 CFL would be eaiser and I could still run off the one breaker. Am I right or wrong? Does anyone have a better idea?
    ma0641's Avatar
    ma0641 Posts: 15,675, Reputation: 1012
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    #2

    Nov 9, 2010, 01:55 PM
    You really need to know the lumen output of the bulbs. In total wattage, 15X27W CFL is 605 watts and 12 tubes at 30W is 360 or 40W is 480. CFL's will cost more to run and you will need to put in a lot of ceiling boxes. Most bare bulb CFL's don't radiate light down and a troffler of shop fluorescent have reflectors so you would probably get better light saturation with the tubes. In any event, your 15 AMP line is OK assuming you don't load a lot of power tools. Is the garage heated? Fluorescents are very slow to operate in cold conditions.
    Missouri Bound's Avatar
    Missouri Bound Posts: 1,532, Reputation: 94
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    #3

    Nov 9, 2010, 08:37 PM

    The most bang for your buck will probably be fixtures using T8 48" lamp with reflectors, and electronic ballasts. The bulbs are cheap, cheap to operate and the electronic ballasts will start at 0 degrees. Check Home Depot or Lowe's.

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