Fire resistant light under a steel

[tombolton82]

Hi, I've sold my house and had to get the building inspector round to do a final check on a steel we had put in 2 years ago which we thought was done but wasn't.
Our electrician put in some small spot lights running along the steel. We had the building inspector round today who said that the lights aren't fire rated. We've now looked on the Internet and spoke to a couple of electrical suppliers and the fire rated spot lights are much deeper than the ones we already have in there. We only have 75mm between the surface of the plasterboard and the steel. The smallest lights I've found are 98mm!
Am I properly screwed?
Cheers
Tom

 

[phatboy]

Can't you fit a fire hat onto the ones that are there?

 

[tombolton82]

Hadn't seen them before. Had a look and all the ones I've found look like they would be a bit too big and I don't know how I would get them on the other side of the hole?!?

 

[sparkiemike]

Ask the inspector why he wants Fire Rated fittings?

The fire rated fittings are used to imede the spread of fire from below, they are not more or less prone to catching fire if fitted properly. Most of them have a 90 minute rating

I am assuming it is plasterboard around the steel - what is the fire rating of that plasterboard. If it is only a single layer, normal downlighters may be OK.

See this article from the IET, regular downlights do not compromise the 30 minute rating of most ceilings.
Issue 14b - Spring 2005 wiring Matters http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/14b/recessed-luminaires.cfm?type=pdf

 

[RF Lighting]

Virtually all steel beams are fire lined to prevent them buckling in a fire and the structure above collapsing.

Penetrating the fire lining with downlighters IS an issue. The simplest thing to do is remove them, and make the holes good. You could fill them with rockwool and then cover them with in intumescent mastic.

 

[phatboy]

Hadn't seen them before. Had a look and all the ones I've found look like they would be a bit too big and I don't know how I would get them on the other side of the hole?!?

They usually are fabric, so you can squash them down, and push them through the hole. You then expand them out, bring the cable in, and use the thumb-tak type things that they come with to fix them to the plasterboard. Then you can refit the light inside