Fire Place Lights

[the_big_1]

Hi Guys,

I want a couple of LED type down lighters to illuminate the recess of my fireplace with a wood burning stove.
Are there any lights that are good for heat areas?

 

[ericmark]

You can buy appliance bulbs designed for use in an oven but in general LED bulbs need large heat sinks to keep them cool so unlikely you will find any LED lamp that can take any real heat. You can also get ceramic bulb holders but with cables it is more of a problem. Although mineral insulated cable will stand heating nearly red hot the termination will not.

So in the main 90°C is about the maximum temperature for cables as to if a LED bulb could take that would depend on the heat sink used. You can get an LED to run at 130°C but that's a LED not a bulb getting an LED packaged up as a bulb likely your limit is 30°C

 

[the_big_1]

How about if I box the laps in fireproof board box section with oven glass for the light to shine through? The fire board is good up to 1000 degrees.

 

[Iggifer]

any idea how hot it actually gets in the area you want to light up? It might not be as much as you expect

 

[the_big_1]

That I don't know yet.
The lights might be above and forward of the stove so it will be the heat rising from the stove

 

[Iggifer]

I was in a house recently that had some lights in the hearth above their woodburner in their living room (didn't pay much attention as I was working in their garage) but there didn't seem to be anything special about them

 

[Iggifer]

Been doing some reading, and have some thoughts, some photos of the area in question might help though

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How about if I box the laps in fireproof board box section with oven glass for the light to shine through? The fire board is good up to 1000 degrees.

Which means it won't fail at temperatures up to 1000°.

Says absolutely nothing about how well it prevents heat from passing through it. Cast iron is "good" up to 1200°, but if you were to touch the "cold" side of it would you be surprised if you got burned?

 

[ericmark]

They do it with mirrors. Spots on the floor level well out the the heat shine onto mirrors to redirect the lights.

However first lets look at the heat involved. What do we know? Well what we do know for a wood stove to burn efficiently with the exception of specials like the rocket which have horizontal flues the flue temperature should be 150°C hotter and wasting heat cooler and tar forms.

But also an environmental friendly wood burner needs secondary combustion to stop particular emissions. This means the stove does burn very hot and some method is required to cool down the flue gases before they get into the flue. Since the rate of burn is reasonably consent to keep the temperatures required on it's own a wood burner is no real good, and has to be used with a heat store of some sort.

The heat store could be a massive stone fire place where the stones absorb then slowly release heat but in the main we use water. The water jackets mean the outer walls of the stove are less than 100°C so with an environmental friendly stove the walls are likely only about 80°C.

So assuming you have a DEFRA approved stove it should not be too much of a problem as the stove is normally not that hot much of the heat comes from the radiators. If not DEFRA approved then why bother with lights would it not be better to get the stove sorted first?

However first one does need to measure the temperature no real good guessing. We normally design domestic appliances to be no hotter than 80°C for safety. OK we can get burnt but the damage is limited and recoverable in the main. Be it a stove or a radiator other than the actual hot plate which will normally have a insulated cover when not in use to design to be over 80°C is rather foolhardy.

But returning to lights getting a tungsten bulb to run hot is not a problem most ovens have lights inside that's normal. But for an LED it's asking rather a lot so even with sides at 80°C if you want LED then do it with mirrors.

 

[the_big_1]

Hi Guys,

when I say a wood burning stove, its one that is sort of 2 foot square with a glass fronted door, thats it.