LED Downlights recessed into celotex (not by me!)

[D C]

I'll preface this by saying that the builders the PO had in doing this extension were complete clowns and there are all sorts of idiotic things we keep finding around the place (example: laying an entire floor and then treading paint all over it and not bothering to clean it up), but this one seems like it might be worse than the others!

There are four downlights in a recently built (2021 I think?) flat roofed extension, one of these had gone so I pulled it out and the driver had a lovely hole in it where a resistor had melted through the casing. Took it out and ordered a couple of new ones with integrated drivers as one other had gone, wired it up and...oh hang on we have a problem.

The whole space for the fitting was just in a cut into the celotex which is resting directly on the plasterboard, so though I could just about get the connection block into the gap previously used for the driver + a connection block, the fitting isn't secure because the spring arms can't actually expand into position because there's insulation around it.

There *is* vertical clearance above the fitting to provide some cooling, but this obviously is not great and everything I can find says "you need 50mm clearance all sides". I can't work out how not great though between "shorter bulb life" and "massive hazard". If it's the second one, what's the best approach? Try and backfill the cavities in the insulation and switch to surface mounts?

PS just as a bonus, these four lights are 10+ years old because they moved them from the hallway to match with the rest already in the room. Why would you put 10 year old LED fittings in a new ceiling ffs.

 

[conny]

I would sacrafice a tiny bit of heat loss over a potential fire hazard any day!

Can you gain access from above to cut away enough Celotex to give you clearance or will it need to be done from below?
I think a fire hood would also be a good investment, or at least fire rated downlighters.
I assume you can't get the original people back to fix their 'errors'?

 

[D C]

There's enough clearance directly "above" the fitting I think, just nothing "around" it. They basically just cut the hole for the light straight up into the insulation at the same diameter. In any case no way to get above it as it's under a sealed flat roof. The new one I've put in is fire rated (https://www.luceco.com/uk/products/downlights/ftype-compact - that connection box is flipping huge!), the old ones who knows but they were 10W rated so must have got pretty toasty!

One option might be to cut out more of a gap around the fitting to give a bit more space around it and to let the spring clips actually engage to hold it properly. It'd lose a bit of insulation but yeah, better that than have it overheating.

No chance of getting them back either though I'm not sure I'd want the people that did it to "fix" it.

e: damn, wish i'd read some of the reviews from the other suppliers on those lights, they call out the same fiddly/useless connection block that had me tearing my hair out. I might just take the whole thing out and replace it with a different brand!

 

[foxhole]

As long as you're using GU10 LEDs (not halogen) you can lay insulation directly on top without needing any other accessories. This allows your downlight installation to be more energy efficient as it prevents the need to cut around it. This stops heat from escaping from the room below.