Asbestos-like protection for halogen lights?

[Timothy Murphy]

I have some sets of small halogen lights (from Ikea) under our kitchen units. These get rather hot, and make the underside of the units warmer than I like.

I wonder if there is some thin heat-resistant material one can put between lights and cupboards?

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

[dom]

Possibly this cut down to the size you need:

[Timothy Murphy]

Thanks for the suggestion, but that seems a little over the top for my purpose. I was really looking for a heat-resistant material a couple of mm's thick which one could put between the light fitting and the cupboard.

[dom]

How about this?

[John Rumm]

9mm plasterboard

[Mj]

[robgraham]

Ditch the lights and replace with slim fluorescents from TLC :-

only do you avoid the heat, you don't have to change the bulbs that fail pretty regularly, the holders won't fail due to the heat and the light is far, far better. Just speaking from experience having been there with the Ikea lights.

Rob

[Pete C]

Try lower wattage bulbs?

I bought some cabinet lights that came with thin silicone gaskets for flush mounting into surfaces.

Maybe a silicone baking mat could be cut up and used similarly.

As Rob mentioned, slim fluorescents might be better.

cheers, Pete.

[PeterK]

I can't remember what its called but when I put a 6" steel flue from a solid fuel stove through an internal block wall I wrapped it with a felt like material about 2mm thick to keep the mortar off the pipe and allow expansion/contraction. It's a current product and therefore not asbestos. SHMBO once had the flue glowing red yet this material only took on a light brown colour. It must have come from the supplier of the stove. peterK

[Andrew Gabriel]

Each light has to give off 10W (or whatever it's rating is). You can't stop that. Buy putting a layer of insulation in, the light just has to get hotter to give off the same heat, probably reducing its life.

As robgraham said, ditch them and replace with slim fluorescents.

[clot]

I'm a philistine. Why fit these stupid ( in my opinion) lights? Modern style-counsel trash which will be ripped out in a few years at the planet's expense. Suitably positioned, a couple of strip lights in a kitchen is all that is needed. I've replaced just three chokes and one light in that time. The spare in the garage doesn't quite have Pounds, shillings and pence on the label!

[clot]

I missed out the fact that the lights have been in place for 24 years plus!