ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area CFL's and recessed cans

As far as UL is concerned, you can use CFL's to replace similar-styled incandescents in any fixture that the bulb will fit into, up to the rated actual marked wattage of the bulb.

In theory, this means you can get "250 watts" of light out of a 60 watt (incandescent) fixture. That's in theory.
The problem is, the bulb most likely won't fit.

That's the real problem with recessed cans. Larger CFL's won't fit in the trim.