Downlighters - a ccautionary tale

[IJWS15]

Daughter bought a flat 6-7 years ago which had downlighters in the kitchen - poor lighting but that is what was fitted by the builder.

She is on the first floor of a two floor block and has an insulated loft above.

Has now decided she wants better light and the down lighters have gone.

The units that came out appear to be fire rated but the cable at each light has been severely overheated with the core insulation stuck to the grey and the grey sheath going brown, the choc blocks and connector housings were brittle and broke up on removal and I need to go back to replace the length of cable from the switch to the first light.

They were covered in fiberglass insulation, no domes/hoods fitted.

Would recommend anyone who has these fitted check the installation and seriously consider removal.

Will post some photos.

 

[ekmdgrf]

Has now decided she wants better light and the down lighters have gone.

A wise person indeed.

 

[pjcomp]

Had the same in a flat a few years back. The callout was because every time the light was switched on the MCB tripped. After a couple of goes I pinpointed the problem fitting (there was a quick flash when it went bang - just as well to find the right one out of a dozen downlights). The feed cable had sat on top of the lamp (not a fire-rated casing) and over time had cooked through, so when switched on the now-bare wires shorted. On pulling it out the fibre-glass insulation sitting on top of it was black and crispy. Didn't help the ceiling was 15 ft high so a stretch to get at!!

pj