higher rated fluorescent bulb in socket?

This sounds like a 14 watt compact fluorescent that is supposed to produce as much light as a 60 watt incandescent. I am guessing that this compact fluorescent is a spiral one.

My experience tells me that the answer is generally probably yes, it will not overheat a fixture rated for a 40 watt incandescent.

WARRANTY: If things go wrong, I will refund what you paid me for this advice, and that's all that I will guarantee.

As for what could go wrong:

1. If the fixture is intended for tubular incandescents, you may have a bit of a heat problem. 40 watt 120V tubular incandescents such as "refrigerator bulbs" have a vacuum and have little heat conducted/convected from them. Compact fluorescents, on the other hand, produce little infrared and have nearly all output other than visible light in the form of conducted/convected heat. I don't have any data handy for a 14 watt compact fluorescent, but I did have an 8 inch globe over a socket heat up more (29 degrees C) from a 20 watt spiral compact fluorescent than from a 40 watt tubular "T10" incandescent (19.5 degrees C). I extrapolate that a 14 watt compact fluorescent would have caused a temperature rise 70% of that of the 20 watt compact fluorescent, or about 20 degrees C, or very slightly more temperature rise than with a 40 watt vacuum-containing incandescent. Probably a non-problem, but no iron-clad guarantee.

However, a 20 watt spiral compact fluorescent heated up this globe less than a 40 watt "A19" gas-filled incandescent did (37 degree C rise).

1. In recessed ceiling fixtures, other fixtures with openings only at the bottom, and small enclosed fixtures, heat builds up. Compact fluorescents are more vulnerable to this than incandescents are. In my experience, this is usually not a problem with compact fluorescents 13 watts or less. As for higher wattages - I have noticed 15 and 20 watt (and not higher wattages) of Philips SLS being rated for use in recessed ceiling fixtures. A majority of the time I see other screw-in models up to about 18 watts or so in such fixtures they appear to usually get away with this, although I have seen spiral models apparently of a wattage in the 19-24 watt range crack in ceiling fan fixtures. Most recessed ceiling fixtures that I see in commercial buildings with compact fluorescent lamps have ones other than screw-in models, and the ballasts are not in the lamp/"bulb" but somewhere in the fixture, presumably somewhat removed from the heat. I have seen many fixtures like that with two 13-watt or two 26-watt lamps/"bulbs".

As for lack of problems using a 14 watt spiral compact fluorescent in a recessed ceiling fixture, other downlight, or small enclosed fixture rated for 40 watt incandescents: I believe you should get away with this, but I give no guarantee.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)