Home Improvement → Looking to install task lighting

I am looking to install a 24" strip fluorescent fixture over the washer and dryer in the basement. Basement is adequately lit by 2 double lamp F40T12 48" inch fluorescent strips. I'd like to install lighting over the washer and dryer as I cannot see the lines on the laundry product cups to measure liquid detergent (Tide, All) and softener (Downey). I think it has to do with the lighting being towards the middle of the basement and the light source is behind me. There are pipes on the ceiling so space is constrained and none are leaking.

I have my decisions down to two fixtures. I want to know which one I'll get more light out of for this purpose.

Choice 1

»www.lowes.com/ProductDis ··· Id=PDIO1

Choice 2

»www.homedepot.com/Lighti ··· IYSy9KK0

The Lowes one is T12 and those tubes are no longer manufactured. You're on a dead end.
The HD one is a T5 which is the newest of the fluorescents (T8 in between). The beauty of the T5 is that it keeps its brightness for a longer time which means fewer bulb changes over the years.
By the way, for those that haven't figured it out, the fluorescent bulbs are measured in 1/8" increments. A T8 is 1" in diameter. A T12 is 1.5" in diameter. Etc.

More light and more efficient with the Home Depot T5 fixture.

Will this lighting be installed on the ceiling, or under a cabinet over the washer and dryer? If it is under the cabinets or lower on the wall you might want to consider fixture that affords more protection to the tubes, or alternatively you might cover the bulb with a shatter resistant sleeve. I seem to constantly be bumping things around my washer and dryer, especially if one has to be moved out for a hose change, etc.

I might also install one of these. This is going to be on the ceiling. There is adequate room on the ceiling for a 48" fixture but I am going to put in a one lamp fixture.

I ought to stockpile F40T12 lamps. They're only $21 per box of 10 at Home Depot.

T12's are ancient history. Installing a new T12 fixture is just plain silly. Don't blow off the good advice you've been given. The T12 lamps and ballasts are going away. T12's are inefficient.

Do yourself a favor and just get the T5 fixture. They will be around for some time to come.

In previous posts you stated that you did not own the property so why don't you try one of these light sticks and a heavy duty three way multitap using the washer outlet unless you have a convenience outlet nearby:

»www.amazon.com/Under-Cab ··· 026KW4QK

or one of these:

»www.amazon.com/Lights-Am ··· sbs_hi_8

This way you will not have to tamper with existing wiring and the liability issues such tampering can lead to.

I already installed two twin-lamp F40T12 fixtures in the basement in 2009 as all that was down there were two screw-base fixtures that put out inadequate light. Installing the strip fluorescents made a 250 percent improvement in the ability to see down there. I have normal vision but my middle aged mother is having issues with declining vision.

I was talking to the landlord yesterday and she said we're excellent tenants as we pay the rent on time. She even offered to pay to replace the carpet with laminate if I did the work (which I want to get rid of the carpet in my bedroom due to allergies).

I also just replaced the security light on the back porch as the motion detector in the old one went bad and it was staying on all day and night (which explains my high electric bill besides a cold month).

Another sign that I see of high energy costs in an economic downturn is when businesses retrofit fluorescent fixtures to operate on fewer tubes than the fixture was originally designed for. An example would be the Big Y supermarket in Chicopee (MA) retrofitting light fixtures designed to hold three T12 tubes to hold one T8. I can tell because you can see the empty sockets. I think what they do is replace the ballast in them.

Also Lowes a few years back took out their metal halide down lights and put in high output fluorescent lights that hold about six tubes in each fixture.

The electric rates in the Northeast are outrageous.