Electrical & Recessed Lighting Question

[kade714]

Thinking about replacing the ceiling fan/light combos in the house with recessed lighting. I'm guessing the BRs will get four 4" cans in place of the fan/light combo. The combo has 4 bulbs coming out of it. Will I need to run more wiring to the recessed light cans, or can I just "split" the existing wiring four ways? If I can split them, how do I do that?

Is it difficult enough where I'd have to hire an Electrician to run the wires and then I do the installs? I'm also hoping I don't need to add anything to the electric panel.

Last house, I hired this out and it cost about $90/light for the installation of about sixteen 6" and twelve 4" cans, including new light switches and a few dimmers. The price didn't include patch/paint repair. Did I get ripped off?

Any help on the DIY install would be greratly appreciated too.

Thanks everyone!

[RBM]

What you paid is considerably less than I would charge. If you want to do this yourself, you first have to determine what is already on the existing lighting circuits in these rooms. A 15 amp lighting circuit is good for around 1500 watts, so you need to calculate what you have and what you want to add. If the circuits are adequate, you would remove the feed to the existing lighting outlet and run it to the nearest recessed light location. From that location, you run a cable to the next location and so on

[Joseph Meehan]

You may want to check local codes. Many places require those vents. Taking them out could cause some problems if you ever go to sell. It might even cause a problem if you get an inspector in there some time and they notice it. Especially if you did not offer them a cup of coffee when they got there.

[RBM]

I'm assuming "BR" means bedroom not bathroom

[Joseph Meehan]

I had not thought of that. You may well be right. The question could be read ether way. In any case my response only applies to bathrooms. I would prefer cans to fan-lights in a bedroom.

[RickR]

If at all possible keep the fan/light.

Adding a dimmer for the new recessed will give you a great combination of lighting options, especially if the fan light casts a general glow, not mini-spots.

Richard Reid, LC

[e-mail] wrote:

[Don Klipstein]

One thing I want to add: Can lights are heat hells. One thing this often means is a specific temperature rating of the supply wiring - it can be quite high.

Unless local codes require worse, it is permissible to have a foot or two of high temperature wiring from the fixture to a junction box that is fed by "more normal" wiring.

One more note: I think it's NEC although I am not sure it's not a local building code, but I did recently read that all permanently installed wiring in a branch circuit has to be identical in maximum allowable overcurrent protection. If the circuit has 14 AWG copper wire, don't splice in any 12 AWG copper wire. I suspect the reasoning is to prevent in the future someone from replacing a fuse/breaker with one of amp rating too high for some of the wiring on the basis of seeing only the higher allowable amp wiring in a circuit with diverse allowable amp wiring. Don't worry if the wire that comes with the fixture is different as long as the fixture is UL listed. Just don't add any wire different from the existing "permanently installed wiring" in size or maximum allowable overcurrent protection.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[Bob]

I'm considering installing recessed fixtures where there is an accessible attic above where drywall enclosures between and over the ceiling joists prevent direct contact between insulation and the fixture. Is that a good idea?