Farm Shop Lights: 9 Tips to Create a Bright Workspace - AgWeb

Oct 24, 2024

What’s the first thing a person does when they walk into a farm shop? Turn on the lights. Here are considerations when designing and selecting lighting systems for farm shops to ensure the brightest, most economical results:

1. Lumens and foot-candles are linked but separate concepts. A lumen is a measure of the light output of a light source, measured at the lamp and/or light fixture. A foot-candle is one lumen per square foot of illuminated surface.

“I’ll often design a workshop to have 30 to 50 foot-candles of overall lighting, depending on what kind of work is being done in the shop,” says Todd Tiernan, with Graybar Electrical Supply, “Then add task lighting over workbenches and other areas that require additional light. The overall design considers the size of the building, ceiling height, the color of ceiling and walls, and at what height off the floor most of the work will be done.”

2. Lamps (light bulbs) and light fixtures are also rated for their “light color temperature” in degrees Kelvin (K). The lower the Kelvin temperature of a light, the more yellowish or reddish it is. The higher the Kelvin temperature rating of a lamp, the more whitish or bluish its light becomes.

“In a house, I might recommend a 2,700 K to 3,000 K light, for a warmer and more comfortable glow,” Tiernan says. “In most workshops, I’ll aim for more of a 4,000 K to 5,000 K light to achieve a more neutral light or something that approximates sunlight. A 4,000 K light would be more of a pure whitish light, while a 5,000 K light would have a slightly bluish tint. Since our eyes are more susceptible to the blue end of the light spectrum, a bluish light seems brighter to us even though they’re both producing the same number of lumens.”

3. Any type of lighting fades over time due to “lumen depreciation.” For example, incandescent lamps initially produce 18 to 20 lumens per watt, but dim by 10% to 15% during their lifetime. T-5 fluorescent lamps dim by 10% to 15% over time. Metal halide lights used in many warehouses average 100 lumens per watt but lose 35% to 40% of their illumination during their lifetime. Most LED lights for workshops can currently go up to 180 lumens per watt and maintain more than 70% of initial lumen output during their predicted lifespan, which typically lasts two times longer than a conventional incandescent or fluorescent light.

4. LED lights are directional. Incandescent and fluorescent lights splay light for almost 360° around the bulb, requiring reflectors to direct light down toward a work surface. “LEDs push light in specific directions,” says Brian Methe, lighting team leader with 3-E Electric in Des Moines. “That’s why ceiling height must be included when choosing which lights to install. With the wrong lights, you could have bright or dark strips where the lights’ patterns overlap too much or too little.”

5. Older shops or buildings with fluorescent lights suffering from degraded ballasts or lumen depreciation can be upgraded in most cases to LED lighting. “If there are two or more rows of T-5 fluorescents, you may be able to swap them one-for-one with LED fixtures,” Methe says. “If you’re concerned that the old lights are ‘dim,’ realize that they may have lost a lot of their illumination with age, and that new LED lights of the same lumens might get you back to where you were. Or, it may be a good time to upgrade and brighten the entire shop with more powerful LEDs.”

6. Shop offices and meeting rooms benefit from different lighting than the shop’s work area. “Ceilings in offices are lower, so the fixtures need to match that ceiling height,” Methe says. “Also, a bright white light might be nice in the working area, but seem harsh in an office. I recommend office lighting in the range of 3,500 K to 4,000 K.”

7. Light fixtures have an IP, which stands for ingress protection. IP ratings have two digits. The first is protection against solid particles, and the second is protection against liquids. The higher the IP values, the more protection.

IP solid-protection ratings go from zero to 6, with IP 5 being “dust-protected” and IP 6 being “dust-sealed.” IP fluid-protection ratings go from zero to 9, with IP 3 safe for exposure to vertically-sprayed water and IP 9 protecting from high-pressure water and steam. An IP 59 light would be for a dusty environment with high-pressure water and steam.

“An IP 65-rated light fixture is a good fit for a general-purpose shop,” Methe says.“The ‘6’ means it’s dust-tight, and the ‘5’ means it’s protected against jets of water from all directions.”

8. Incandescent and fluorescent lights are available, though 13 U.S. states, along with Canada, have announced upcoming bans on fluorescent lamps. Most new installations in farm shops use LED fixtures. While studies by the U.S. Department of Energy indicate the initial purchase price for LEDs is slightly higher than fluorescents, they are 25% to 75% more efficient. LEDs also have a longer lifespan.

9. There’s a tendency to cut corners when illuminating parts rooms and storage areas. Which is ironic, because bright lights are needed more than ever when reading small-print part numbers on parts packages or rooting for a critical part in the back corners of storage bins.

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