[Shop-talk] LED heat output

[Jim Stone]

With 60 just around the corner, I find my making more frequent trips to the
bathroom at night.  I figure a discussion on BPH would be way off topic, but
surely LEDs are not.  I wanted to put a nightlight in the bathroom, but
because of the way the bathroom is designed my wife found anything plugged
into an existing outlet to be to distracting when she was trying to sleep.
So, I did a little electrical surgery on the fan light switches right by the
toilet.  I replaced the two existing switches with one double switch, then put
a hard-wired hallway light into the empty space.  Here is the one I used:
http://www.techmall.com/Pass-Seymour-Decorator-Full-Hallway-Light-TMHWL-p/510
47.htm

So far, so good, but the the 3 LEDs produce much more light than I wanted and
having it right at eye level proved to be pretty annoying in the middle of the
night.  After a little experimentation, I painted the inside of the exterior
plastic lens white, then put two layers of blue masking tape over the inner
lens that covers the LEDs.  From an esthetic perspective the result is
perfect.  The lens looks white when the other lights are on but gives me a
soft blue glow when they are not.  However, the LEDs are now more tightly
enclosed than before, with flammable paper just a fraction of an inch away.
People say that LEDs don't produce any heat, but is that just relative to
incandescent blubs?  Does this seem safe or have I created the possibility of
a dangerous situation?

Thanks.

Jim