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Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.::America’s ban on incandescent light bulbs, 16 years in the making, is finally a reality. Well, mostly.
Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.::America’s ban on incandescent light bulbs, 16 years in the making, is finally a reality. Well, mostly.
Where do we get light bulbs now for our ovens and other specialty locations that require the old incandescent light bulb?
This was my first thought.
I live in the UK where they’ve been banned as part of the EU directive since 2016. What I can tell you is that you can still get incandescent light bulbs for an oven. I bought one probably a year ago for mine.
There is likely an exception in the law for this.
RTFA. There are a whole list of exceptions, and appliance bulbs are the first bullet point.
Specialty bulbs are still produced but even those are shrinking.
I recently bought a very low power/low lumen LED light bulb and it was rated for refrigerator and other low temperature use.
Hoven lamps will eventually suffer the same fate.
LED bulbs for refrigerators and freezers are pretty easy to design since the lower temperatures will let the LEDs run more efficiently. Oven lamps might never get LEDs because normal solder starts to melt around 350F and will soften around 200F so unless they start making the bulbs with exotic and expensive solder we will never see LEDs in the oven.
They don’t need to put the light inside the oven. Light pipes are a thing. It’s obvious that it would cost less to put the fixture inside the oven, so that’s probably why we have to put up with incandescent bulbs inside the oven, instead of a better solution that would probably last the life of the oven.
Specialty bulbs are still produced but even those are shrinking.
I recently bought a very low power/low lumen LED light bulb and it was rated for refrigerator and other low temperature use.
Hoven lamps will eventually suffer the same fate.
Incandescent oven bulbs will probably not be replaced, simply because there is no reason for it. The “wasted” energy from an incandescent bulb is expelled as heat, and extra heat in an oven is not a problem. You can describe the bulb in an oven as a tiny heater that just happens to give off a bit of light.
In fact, I use my oven as a proofing chamber for bread making in the winter. Turn on the oven light and leave your dough in there to proof, keeps it at a nice ~25 C.
I would recommend you to buy a dedicated proofer. It provides not only accurate temperature control, but also humidity control. It’s the best investment if you’re serious about bread making.
I tend not to collect single purpose devices as they take up too much space in my limited storage, and a warm cabinet made by my oven light is good enough for some homemade sourdough which we make about once a week.
Well, my proofer is not a single use device. It allows me to ferment multitude of foods, slow cook things and also works as a sous vide. But yeah, if you bake just for fun and not very serious about it, then you don’t need it.
There are exceptions, like in the European Union.
Incandescent bulbs were banned in the eu loooong time ago, I simply go to store and buy a new oven bulb when it pops. Yes they are still incandescent, because there are exceptions in the law.
You mean appliance bulbs? They’re a different thing all together
…please don’t tell me you’ve been putting regular incandescent bulbs in places that need appliance bulbs