[kwlug-disc] (off topic) Burnt plastic smell from LED bulbs?

[Jason]

One other things I don't think a lot of people consider when buying LED
bulbs:  Make sure for indoor use within enclosures, you buy "Enclosure
Fixture Rated" bulbs.  Many of the cheap bulbs that have the 5 year
warranty are NOT rated for enclosures, and the heat will damage and
prematurely kill them.  I've had many old LED bulbs not last a year when
they were warrantied for 5-10 years, but on closer inspection, they were
not enclosure rated. In my kitchen, when the bulbs die, the plastic base
usually cracks due to the heat.

Possible that the bulbs you have are not rated to be inside enclosures, and
the heat is killing them, hence the burning plastic smell. Could also be
the cheaper bulbs are using cheaper plastic, which has a lower heat
tolerance, and causes the burning smell.

Hope that helps.

On Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 9:23 PM CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I've seen LED bulbs get hot.  And it's not that they're not supposed to;
> but they can get a little hot (although not as bad as incandescent).
>
> But if your CTC bulbs are getting really hot, then either it's the bulb,
> or the socket.  Possibly even the wiring between the breaker or switch and
> the socket.  As you mentioned, try swapping out the hot bulbs with a
> different brand.  See if the other brands get hot.  At the same time, stick
> the CTC bulbs in another socket and see what happens.
>
> Also, check if the socket is on a dimmable switch, and if the bulbs are
> rated as dimmable.  That can cause issues.  This might become evident if
> the CTC bulbs work in a completely different socket with no issues.
>
> Above all, don't leave the bulbs unattended in case "hot" becomes "fire".
> Keep an extinguisher handy!
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, 14 Jul 2025 at 00:18, William Park via kwlug-disc <
> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Do you smell "burnt plastic" from your LED light bulb?
>> If not, then what brand/store are you using?
>>
>> Background:
>> -----------
>> For longest time, I've been smelling "burnt plastics" in the house.  At
>> first, I thought some neighbour's wood stove... exhaust goes up, drifts
>> over to my house, cools, and comes down.  But, it's more "plastic"
>> burning, not "wood" burning.  It's bad enough to irritate my throat and
>> interfere with my sleep.  I've been opening all my windows at night,
>> daily.
>>
>> I checked everything... water heater, furnace fan, refrigerator, my
>> computer.  I finally found the culprit.  LED bulbs.  The plastic base
>> gets hot and emits that smell.  Over time, it accumulates inside the
>> house.
>>
>> All my LED bulbs were bought from Canadian Tire.  So, I bought 2 bulbs
>> from Home Depot (Ecosmart) and Rona (Valu+).  And, they don't smell, at
>> least after 1 day of use.  Maybe it's too early to tell.
>>
>> I'm on the verge of going back to incandescent bulbs.  Help!
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>> To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
>> with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
>> kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
>>
> _______________________________________________
> kwlug-disc mailing list
> To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
> with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
> kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.kwlug.org/pipermail/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org/attachments/20250714/cc76161d/attachment-0001.htm>