cfl hoods causing too much heat! Should i go hood-less?

I have 10 cfl running in a 1.5x3.5 and 8 of the have the clamp lamp hood going on. I noticed that the lights with the hoods give off alot more heat than the ones without. So much so that im having to pull them back off the plants because sticking my hand inbetween the light n the plant canopies is uncomfortably hot. Now i read a bunch of articles saying that cfls can practicle touch the plants without harming them..im confused.

The lights with hood have to be 7-9 inches away but the ones without can afford to be about 2 inches...should i just get rid of the hoods and get all the lights closer?

Get a $5 clip on fan from Wal-Mart and aim it either at the bulb itself from below, or aim it across the bottom of the hood. I control heat with a 400 HPS this way. Should work for your cfl, lol.

Are there different quality cfl's? i read on here about the heat,,,i have the 40 watt cfls and i put pieces of white paper directly on the cfls as reflectors and they do not get hot,,i can grab any of my bulbs even after being on 8-10 hours ,,they are warm,,maybe 100 degrees but no more...just wondering since i've seen several posts on heat from them... I originally put the paper up to cover the light from my eyes as i figured it couldn't be good to be looking into that many lights..then just fooling around with my light meter i checked to see if there was any improvement..get 1/3 more light on meter with the paper reflectors. i'll get better reflectors for my next grow as this one was just bagseed and first grow,

I don't understand the heat either, I've run 105w cfl's in brooding hoods as shown above and could put them right on the plants. like smokinrav said get some air moving. CFL's are much better with a hood.

i got a 4 inch clamp fan and a 10 inch box fan. i think my space us just too small...those fans alone make my plants seem like a palm tree during a hurracaine.

Well, then you have your answer. You need a bigger space.