Good closet lighting is too useful to be ignored.
Building codes closely regulate lighting in closets, but many older homes are not code compliant. The location of this light bulb inside a clothes closet could easily start a fire in this home. The solution here is to move the circuit to an enclosed fluorescent or LED light fixture mounted above the door on the header. This will give working clearances required by code and will not generate the heat of an incandescent bulb.
It is not enough to tell people not to stack clothing or other combustibles like cardboard boxes too close to this bulb.
A lot of closets either don't have a light or are lit by an exposed incandescent bulb screwed into a surface-mounted fixture operated with a pull-chain. The first situation is inconvenient, but the second is dangerous. Closets tend to be filled with flammable material such as clothing, and incandescent bulbs get very hot.
Add a New Hard-Wired Fixture
The best closet lighting will be provided by a fixture wired above the door opening, to the inside of the door header. Install a motion sensor or a switch on the outside of the closet. A switch that stays lit when the light is on will remind you to turn off the light when the door is closed.
Code requirements: NEC 410.16 Luminaires (lighting fixtures) installed in clothes closets shall have the following minimum clearances from the defined storage area:
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- 12 inches for totally enclosed surface incandescent or LED luminaires
- 6 inches for recessed totally enclosed incandescent, fluorescent or LED luminaires
- 6 inches for surface mounted or recessed fluorescent luminaires
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