Are LED Light Bulbs a Fire Risk

[sailorman]

I started a slow conversion from incandescent to LED light bulbs in my house today . Then I considered fire risk because if the heat sink in LED 's . Info on internet falls about 50 - 50 on both sides of the fence . What do ya 'll think ? I don 't want to burn down my house .

I 've got various types of fixtures in my house . Recessed Can floods in kitchen ceiling . Enclosed and open ceiling fixtures . Open horizontal mounted fixture over bath room mirror . All except floods ( 65 W ) use 60 W incandescent .

 

[4570Man]

I have a few LEDs in recessed can lights. They seem to burn much cooler.

 

[newbury]

I just blinded myself trying to get the temp of two bulbs in can lights above me using my HF IR laser thermometer.
Both bulbs are 60W "equivalent". The CFL was about 95 degrees F, the LED about 78 degrees F. Room temp based on the HF AND another thermometer is 60 F.

I had NOT expected them to be that cool, I can remember having to wait for incandescent bulbs to cool before changing.

 

[sailorman]

Man and Newbury thanks for the early responses .

 

[Looking4new]

LEDs are a lot cooler than CFLs and I have read that CFLs may explode. That is why I got rid of them and switched my whole house over to LEDs.

 

[k0ua]

Yeah I have put my hand on them while they are running. Can't do that with most of the incandescents. There is some heat, but nothing you would call "hot"

 

[dragoneggs]

Yeah LEDs in the typical wattage used around the house put out very little heat thus the reason they are much more efficient than incandescents. I think if you are buying reputable brands or from reputable sources your risk is extremely low. High wattage LEDs packed in small packages for special applications such as reef aquarium lighting often have integral fans to help keep cool the electronics that are sensitive to that but even they do not put out dangerous heat levels.

 

[sailorman]

Thanks for the replies everyone . I 'm feelin ' ok with the LED 's .

 

[sld]

Just look at the watts consumed. That is a measure of how much heat they generate.

 

[Mendonsy]

The reason that you see heat sinks on LED lights is that the LED's will fail from too much heat so they are using the heat sink to dissipate the small amount of heat that the LED's generate.
Incandescent lights work better when they are HOT but LED's will fail at those temperatures. An LED light will always run much cooler than the equivalent incandescent light.