Fire Rated Lights

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Hi Everyone,

Not been on here for a long time but have a simple question for you,

My loft is all floorboarded and plastered etc but has standard halogen downlights in the floor approx 10 of them, I dont like using them as I dont trust them but the effect is superb.

Can i swap out the downlights to put in low voltage fire rated spotlights preferably with led bulbs ???

Would this be the best option and is there anything else I need to consider ???

Regards
Stan.
 
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Hi Staningrimsby

You have made a common mistake in thinking that a fire rated downlight produces less heat.
The truth is that a fire rated downlight can withstand a fire for 30/60/90 minutes if a fire breaks out in the room that they are installed in, they don't "absorb" the heat of the halogen bulb.

Low voltage downlights (12v) don't produce any less heat than a mains (230v)

You could just replace your existing GU10 halogen with an equivalent LED type, as long as your existing light fitting were installed as recommended by the manufacturer
 
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Hi Staningrimsby

You have made a common mistake in thinking that a fire rated downlight produces less heat.
The truth is that a fire rated downlight can withstand a fire for 30/60/90 minutes if a fire breaks out in the room that they are installed in, they don't "absorb" the heat of the halogen bulb.

Low voltage downlights (12v) don't produce any less heat than a mains (230v)

You could just replace your existing GU10 halogen with an equivalent LED type, as long as your existing light fitting were installed as recommended by the manufacturer

Surley the casing that surrounds the lamp stays cooler than an exposed lamp does.
 
The truth is that a fire rated downlight can withstand a fire for 30/60/90 minutes if a fire breaks out in the room that they are installed in
No - they don't "withstand" it.

Fire rated means that they'll have an intumescent component which swells up and closes off all the holes when there's a fire, to stop the spread of fire though the light.

By the time the fire has got hot enough/close enough to the lights for that to happen they will already have been destroyed from the POV of being lights - the only thing left for them to do is to plug the hole in the ceiling.
 
Yes the void is insulated, i thought a low voltage LED lamp would run at a cooler heat and be better as they are mounted in the floor.
They do produce less heat, but what little they produce they cannot tolerate at all well, so it must be got rid of. They will still require ventilation and clearances.


Surley the casing that surrounds the lamp stays cooler than an exposed lamp does.
No - it will be just as hot as the air at that distance from the lamp. Probably hotter than an unenclosed light as it will impede ventilation.
 
The truth is that a fire rated downlight can withstand a fire for 30/60/90 minutes if a fire breaks out in the room that they are installed in
No - they don't "withstand" it.

Fire rated means that they'll have an intumescent component which swells up and closes off all the holes when there's a fire, to stop the spread of fire though the light.

By the time the fire has got hot enough/close enough to the lights for that to happen they will already have been destroyed from the POV of being lights - the only thing left for them to do is to plug the hole in the ceiling.

So then they do "withstand" it, by the means of the intumescent component which swells up and closes closes off all the holes when there's a fire.
 
Well, I guess it depends what you mean by "withstand".

If somebody told me that <some item> would <withstand a particular condition> I would expect that item to emerge unscathed from exposure to that condition, not to be destroyed by it.

You, on the other hand, would, for example, appear to be quite happy to buy a casserole dish described as being able to withstand an oven temperature of 250°C and then find that when you put it into an oven set to 250°C it melted.

IF YOU EXPOSE A FIRE RATED DOWNLIGHT TO A FIRE IT WILL BE DESTROYED BY IT.

NOBODY WITH AN IQ BIGGER THAN THEIR SHOE SIZE WOULD EQUATE "BEING DESTROYED BY" AND "WITHSTANDING".
 
Gareth, try these, you clown.

You live in an earthquake-prone region, and you ask an architect and a civil engineer to provide you with a building which will withstand a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. After a 5.0 magnitude earthquake strikes you find that your building has been so severely damaged that it is no longer structurally sound. Has it withstood the earthquake?


You live in a hurricane-prone region, and you ask an architect and a civil engineer to provide you with a building which will withstand a Category 3 hurricane. After a hurricane with sustained winds of 178–208 km/h and a central pressure of 945–964 mbar has passed over it you find that your building has been so severely damaged that it is no longer structurally sound. Has it withstood the hurricane?
 
B-A-S doesn't sleep at night (look at the time of his posts)

He wants to sleep, but he can't.

The later it gets, the crosser he gets so he prowls the forum looking for something to pick on.

Lucky boy, last night it was you!
 

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