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I bought a three light pole lamp from Stor (it was like Ikea but even worse -- they went out of business in the early 90s) and carefully complied with the recommended wattage -- in fact, using 40 W instead of the 60 W max.
And everything was fine.
Until one day a few weeks later, I pointed two of the lights up at the ceiling.
A few hours later I came in and smelled the telltale smell of burning plastic.
The two lamp units that had been pointed up -- which meant that the open side was up and -- I would have thought -- could more easily vent the heat from the mighty 40 W incandescent light bulbs -- those two lights were melted and one actually had a thin plume of black smoke curling up away from it. I wasn't any too soon.
It was utterly peculiar. Why they didn't overheat pointed down and only venting up through a couple small holes, I don't know. Why they did oveheat with a 3-1/2 inch opening above the bulb, I really don't know.
But it was the last thing I bought from that chain that had an electrical cord on it, you can bet on that.
(They were also famous for their disintegrating particle board bookshelves. Great place. Like I said, it made Ikea look good.)
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