I don't know how it is in other countries, but here in the UK we still have light sockets rated for the older incandescent bulbs that needed around 60W. But LEDs are much more efficient. Sometimes you see LED bulbs with absurd things like '5W = 60W' written on them, meaning that it actually uses 5W, but it's as bright as an old 60W bulb. You basically don't need to worry about the safety limit of the socket, since the LEDs are way under it. Of course since the socket is rated for 60W you could plug in a 60W LED, which would be as bright as an 720W incandescent bulb.
Which I suspect is what this person did to their poor fridge.
Even then, where the hell did they get a 60W LED? LEDs with those kinds of power ratings are pretty hard to find, and they're going to be fairly expensive as well.
60W LED bulbs don't exist because the form factor does not allow them to dissipate heat fast enough to keep LED chips that produce >50 W in heat below 150 °C. Fixtures of 20-100+ watts are available as COB modules that get mounted into work light reflectors where the entire back side is the heatsink. Their driver is very simple, so they are cheap but flicker at double the mains frequency. You can mount one in a fridge with adhesive heatsink compound and unsafe wiring modifications, assuming it fits under the cover if the socket is removed. An alternative is a long low-voltage LED strip wound all around the fridge's interior several times.
My guess is that the fridge actually used a 20w bulb. A 20w LED is plenty bright.
What's worse is having dimmable bulbs. A dimmer is required to have the maximum wattage of 120 W or so because there will always be some idiot who decides to put an incandescent bulb in and risks burning the house down.
We could have dimmers a tenth of their size if people stopped being idiots. Instead we need to deal with those massive 4x4x4cm boxes that can't be fitted into many walls.
If it was actually 200 watts it would probably outpower the heat transfer capacity of the fridge.
If it's led 200w equivalent then it's fine.
Those max ratings are for incandescent bulbs
Probably yeah.
(am gonna use European standards here sorry Ameribruvs.)
Also, 200w bulbs that fit into fridge socket? The "40w max" is usually in normal E27 sockets. (The regular light bulb socket.) And the largest lamps for those I've seen are around 50-80w, and pretty much always sold as "growlamps".
Going to 200w you'd need an E40 socket. They're about twice the size of the "regular" E27 (and E14 is the smaller "candle" socket, that's like half the diameter of the regular one). Here's what a 200w bulb looks like and remember that the socket is twice the size of a regular one. That bulb is like ~40cm long.
Idk what socket fridges use though, but I seriously doubt it's anything close to an E40 size.
It's probably a 25w led though I wouldn't have thought they would fit in a fridge
If it's really a 200 watt bulb, which I doubt, it won't actually pull 200 watts, that's just what it would pull if it was available but I doubt the fridge will pass that through. It would be a pretty stupid design otherwise.
It will unless a fuse blows, which is somewhat unlikely, they are usually overrated.
Okay but who puts bread in their fridge, what, do you live in a Soulsborne poison swamp level? It's bread.
Edit: The question was rhetorical, guys. 😅
It lasts a few days longer because I can’t finish 18 slices of bread in 4 days.
Coward
I do sometimes actually. I live alone and don't use a ton of bread, so keeping it in the fridge keeps it from molding quickly.
That's fair - I bake, but my family eats it almost faster than I can make it. Skews my perception of bread.
I see half loaves on the shelf sometimes these days, might be an idea
When I still lived with my parents, they kept bread in a room temperature and we quite often had to toss away moldy ones. When I moved on my own I started keeping it in the fridge and I don't think I've had mold once. I toast it virtually every time anyway so doesn't really matter. Also it's dark rye bread which probably keeps differently than one made from while flour
South Louisiana. I put my bread in freezer during the summer or it will be moldy in two days.
You only mean fridge right, not freezer?
Well yeah, you can freeze it no problem. Someone made that point, I'm not arguing
Our cat likes to eat bread and will tear the bag open to get at it. Had to keep it in the fridge.
Also our kitchen had no cupboards with doors. Have since remedied that and now can keep bread in the cupboard.
I do. I don't have a breadbox (and they are butt ugly) and not wasting cupboard space for a loaf of bread, english muffins, etc.
yeah i dunno, it's always in the freezer for me
With the right bulb, you can cook straight in your fridge!
I'm really hoping they're just going by what they see on the packaging at Walmart where lightbulb wattage is shown as an equivalent measurement for lumens and that it's not the actual power consumption. Fridge lightbulbs should not take as much power to run as an AC unit.
Reminds of when the host of Technology Connections said that he has an electric car that he charges at home and his favorite Christmas lights still double his bill
And if you take off the door you can triple duty it for a heater! Win win win
Go ahead and grab yourself a piping hot carrot from the refurnacerator
Midnight snacking countermeasures. This is like setting off a flashbang if opened in a dark kitchen at night.
Yes that's what it said at the bottom of the image.
You should get the right one ASAP, as the socket might not be able to cope with the power draw and heat.
I didn't even know they still made bulbs over 10W.
I think they started marketing them in "equivalent wattage"
I got this one crazy 10k or something lumen bulb a few years back - I set it up in the corner of my room. There were no shadows. Just total darkness to high noon at the equator. I wired it up as part of an alarm clock.
Instead of little squares of LEDs, it was strips of them facing out in a twisty bulb. I want to say it was something like 15 watts
An enclosed bulb with basically no heat sink and no chill is probably not a great design, it didn't last long. It was cool though
Incandescent bulbs over ~75W are banned in the US now, with a (glaring) exception for heat lamps. There are some shady manufacturers labeling ordinary high wattage lightbulbs as heat lamps to get around the restriction, but you'd have a hard time finding any of those in a big-box store.
Me, scrolling in dark mode:...
This post: Not anymore, chucklenuts!
The post made me laugh. On a serious note, those "maximum xxWatts" labels are there because that's what the wiring in the appliance for that bulb can carry. You can exceed the maximum, but it will likely cause a fire.
A few watts off might be fine, they usually over-build things, so if you get a 45W bulb for a 40W fixture it could be okay, but bluntly, are you willing to risk fire instead of just getting the right bulb?
Not just the wiring but also the housing/shade/cover. They're rated for incandescent heat output as well as electrical consumption.
200W output power?
I think it probably means it puts out as much light as a 200w incandescent bulb
