Hi everyone,
I'm a basic DIYer and claim to be nothing more than that so please bear with me! I leave anything to do with electrics (apart from changing lightbulbs and wiring plugs) to the professionals!
I've inherited a situation where I've got a load of GU10 down/spotlights which have been fitted in various rooms throughout the house. They're all the same make/model throughout and are all 240v jobbies. They look a lot like the Robus fire rated ones (on Screwfix) and have a sort of metal chassis/container that is spring-fitted to the ceilings with the bulb and bulb-holder screwed into them. The chassis has holes in the upper face to allow heat into the ceiling cavity.
They've all been fitted for around 4-5 years and seem to work fine. However whoever fitted them seems to have done something not quite right... Perhaps they drilled the holes for the spotlights too small or something but the upshot is that there are very messy holes for some of the lights to sit into. You can see flaking plaster where they messed up the holes and the lights droop in places where they messed up the retaining springs. They're also impossible to pull out of their holes because the springs are too strong and either go pinging off into the ceiling cavities (leaving the spotlights hanging messily) or pull big chunks of the plasterboard down with them.
I wanted to use some proper plaster-based filler to tidy the fitting holes that the electricians drilled but cannot remove the light fittings because of the above problem. Therefore my question is: can I use a thin bead of silicone sealant to hide the messy gap between the ceiling and the spotlight holders? I've got some fire-proof white sealant but have no idea whether it's safe to block the gaps without it causing a dangerous build-up of heat in the ceiling cavity. All that's in the ceiling cavities are heating pipes, electrical cables, dust and dead spiders. The light fittings get hot when they're in use at you can imagine.
I would be very grateful for any help/advice anyone can give me, particularly if anyone has experience of sealing this kind of fitting. Replacing the bulbs for LEDs or some kind of cool bulb is something I'd like to do in the future but we have 28 of these things dotted throughout the house!
Many thanks!
Andy
I'm a basic DIYer and claim to be nothing more than that so please bear with me! I leave anything to do with electrics (apart from changing lightbulbs and wiring plugs) to the professionals!
I've inherited a situation where I've got a load of GU10 down/spotlights which have been fitted in various rooms throughout the house. They're all the same make/model throughout and are all 240v jobbies. They look a lot like the Robus fire rated ones (on Screwfix) and have a sort of metal chassis/container that is spring-fitted to the ceilings with the bulb and bulb-holder screwed into them. The chassis has holes in the upper face to allow heat into the ceiling cavity.
They've all been fitted for around 4-5 years and seem to work fine. However whoever fitted them seems to have done something not quite right... Perhaps they drilled the holes for the spotlights too small or something but the upshot is that there are very messy holes for some of the lights to sit into. You can see flaking plaster where they messed up the holes and the lights droop in places where they messed up the retaining springs. They're also impossible to pull out of their holes because the springs are too strong and either go pinging off into the ceiling cavities (leaving the spotlights hanging messily) or pull big chunks of the plasterboard down with them.
I wanted to use some proper plaster-based filler to tidy the fitting holes that the electricians drilled but cannot remove the light fittings because of the above problem. Therefore my question is: can I use a thin bead of silicone sealant to hide the messy gap between the ceiling and the spotlight holders? I've got some fire-proof white sealant but have no idea whether it's safe to block the gaps without it causing a dangerous build-up of heat in the ceiling cavity. All that's in the ceiling cavities are heating pipes, electrical cables, dust and dead spiders. The light fittings get hot when they're in use at you can imagine.
I would be very grateful for any help/advice anyone can give me, particularly if anyone has experience of sealing this kind of fitting. Replacing the bulbs for LEDs or some kind of cool bulb is something I'd like to do in the future but we have 28 of these things dotted throughout the house!
Many thanks!
Andy
