LED Downlight - Stopping Draught

[Peza82]

Hi,

I bought a house back in December, took out all the ceilings due to leaks in the roof and reinstalled with down lights in most rooms. I have roughly 45 and now it has got to winter I have noticed that a draught comes through the holes of the lights. I heat the house to 18-20 degrees but it just doesn't stay warm for long.

I currently have insulation installed leaving a gap of about 80mm around the fittings. I bought GU10 down lights that were suitable to LED bulbs (living room dimmable). The units have cooling holes at the top but I know that the halogen bulbs let off a hell of a lot of heat. The bulbs that I have are good quality 5w/6w syvania and only get slightly warm compared to the halogen bulbs.

To stop the draught what I was think of doing was getting a large plant pot which would leave 50mm to the sides and above and then lay insulation over the top, covering the whole loft. This was the insulation will never touch the bulb but I will be able to insulate the loft to the required 300mm. As I can fee a draught coming through I guess that if any heat is built up it will come back into the room.

Any advice would be great,

Thanks

 

[RF Lighting]

Are all these fittings straight into the loft?

Ignore any replies to your question form ban-all-sheds. You'll understand when you see them.

 

[Peza82]

my house is a bungalow so all into loft, good space from all beams.

 

[RF Lighting]

That's good news! Shouldn't be too hard to remedy then. A clay plant pot would be ok, or there are some purpose made things which you could use, then you can properly insulate the loft.



http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLALC274.html

 

[Peza82]

Thanks.

Iv just thought, instead of a plant pot I could get a piece of plywood and put that across the beams above the light and then the insulation wont sag onto the light. Do you think that would be a better option?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ignore any replies to your question form ban-all-sheds.

Well - it looks like it's too late to ask him to consider whether 45 lights over that many rooms hints at the lights in question being good at lighting up rooms or bad at it, as he's already turned his nice new ceilings into draughty, fuel-bill munching, Building Regulations contravening swiss cheese.

And it probably won't do much good to ask him why he neither knew nor cared (at the time) how to install them properly, and neither knew nor cared that he was doing it illegally.

Might be an opportune time though to tell him that flower pots are not an appropriate solution, and that he needs to build or buy sealed enclosures to go over the lights which provide the clearance that the maker of the lights specifies.

http://www.nhbc.co.uk/NHBCPublicati...ical/StandardsExtra/filedownload,16553,en.pdf

http://www.aico.co.uk/downlights-in-loft-space-what-to-fit.html

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Iv just thought, instead of a plant pot I could get a piece of plywood and put that across the beams above the light and then the insulation wont sag onto the light. Do you think that would be a better option?

No - you need to seal the path off.

Unless you are looking forward to your roof timbers rotting from the condensation that you'll get up there when the warm moist air from the house gets into the cold loft.

 

[RF Lighting]

A few of them loft caps I linked to and it'll be good to go. Just because you don't like these lights does not mean no one else is allowed to have them.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Just because you don't like these lights does not mean no one else is allowed to have them.

I've never said that they aren't.

I just think that people should consider the sheer b****y lunacy of them before going ahead.

 

[RF Lighting]

They're great. I fit millions of them and every single customer loves them.

 

[Peza82]

Well - it looks like it's too late to ask him to consider whether 45 lights over that many rooms hints at the lights in question being good at lighting up rooms or bad at it, as he's already turned his nice new ceilings into draughty, fuel-bill munching, Building Regulations contravening swiss cheese.

16 - Living Room, 16 - Kitchen, 7 - Hall way, 4 - Bathroom = when you've got a living room and kitchen that are 7m x 5.5m each your going to need more than 3 lights in each pal. The living room has 4 rows of 4 with double dimmer switch so I can choose how bright I want it. As for fuel munching as I said there 5w each apart from the 4 in the bathroom which are 6w cool white.

And it probably won't do much good to ask him why he neither knew nor cared (at the time) how to install them properly, and neither knew nor cared that he was doing it illegally.

A qualified electrician rewired my entire house but I don't think he fancied sticking around to do the insulation as well.

Might be an opportune time though to tell him that flower pots are not an appropriate solution, and that he needs to build or buy sealed enclosures to go over the lights which provide the clearance that the maker of the lights specifies.



Read more: //www.diynot.com/diy/threads/led-downlight-stopping-draught.417368/#3238825#ixzz3IJt5WYfd
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[RF Lighting]

They look great and provide a really good even spread of light across the entire room. Hardly lunacy.

 

[ekmdgrf]

16 - Living Room, 16 - Kitchen, 7 - Hall way, 4 - Bathroom = when you've got a living room and kitchen that are 7m x 5.5m each your going to need more than 3 lights in each pal. The living room has 4 rows of 4 with double dimmer switch so I can choose how bright I want it. As for fuel munching as I said there 5w each apart from the 4 in the bathroom which are 6w cool white.

I don't think he was referring to the amount of electrical energy used to illuminate the room. I think he was referring to the fuel used to heat the air in the room, which then rises through the "Swiss cheese" between the room and the loft and out into the big, bad world.

It's not often that BAS and I see eye to eye but he has got a point about downlighters being a crock of ****.

 

[Peza82]

The bulb and fitting supplier recommend 50mm side and 20-25mm above. As the lights run along my beams I think what i may do is leave a gap of 50mm either side in the insulation and then run strips of plasterboard along the top of the beams preventing the heat from escaping (&draught). I will only need 4 strips in the bigger rooms, that way I can lay a second layer of insulation over the top and it saves me 45 x £9 in covers or a week making my own

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Well - it looks like it's too late to ask him to consider whether 45 lights over that many rooms hints at the lights in question being good at lighting up rooms or bad at it, as he's already turned his nice new ceilings into draughty, fuel-bill munching, Building Regulations contravening swiss cheese.

That's what I said.

Use of the

button beyond you, is it?

16 - Living Room, 16 - Kitchen, 7 - Hall way, 4 - Bathroom = when you've got a living room and kitchen that are 7m x 5.5m each your going to need more than 3 lights in each pal.

Err - no.

For rooms that size you do not need 16 lights which are designed to light up rooms, pal.

The living room has 4 rows of 4 with double dimmer switch so I can choose how bright I want it.

If the lights were designed to light up rooms, and you had 16 of them, you'd need welding goggles when you turned them up full.

And it probably won't do much good to ask him why he neither knew nor cared (at the time) how to install them properly, and neither knew nor cared that he was doing it illegally.

So as well as not thinking about appropriate lighting, you don't appear to be thinking that there might be a reason for the

button.

A qualified electrician rewired my entire house but I don't think he fancied sticking around to do the insulation as well.

If this "qualified electrician" signed a declaration to say that he complied with the Building Regulations he lied. He charged you for doing something he did not do, which is theft. You should complain to his scheme organiser.

Read more: //www.diynot.com/diy/threads/led-downlight-stopping-draught.417368/#3238825#ixzz3IJt5WYfd
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That's this thread - I am clearly reading it - what's the point of that link?