Bathroom - donwlighter spotlights - halogen - loft insulation

Folks,

Just moved into a new property. The upstairs bathroom seemed chilly and hav ing looked in the loft I can see why, the insulation material has been remo ved, presumably do the fitting of halogen spotlights. My initial research s hows that you can't lay insulation material over these buggers as they need room to ventilate the huge amount of heat they produce.

Can I simply replace the hologens with LED bulbs and then replace my insula tion material? Or do I need to fit loft-caps?

Chappie in the lighting shop wasn't 100% sure but seemed to think it would be okay as LED don't produce heat. He also said that people sometimes use u pside-down ceramic plant pots as they are cheaper!

Regards Jon

Reply to
Jon Parker
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LEDs produce far less heat, so you will likely get away with it.

(although note that part of the reason for the proper hoods is to restore the fire integrity of the ceiling, which depending on the specifics of the installation may or may not matter)

Indeed, another common solution.

Reply to
John Rumm

Don't know enough about it to say really, but it's a plasterboard ceiling fastened to the joists, with insulation material laying on top of it. House was built 1990 I think.

Probably got some in the garden, will have a hunt!

Cheers :-) JP

Reply to
Jon Parker

I did about a year ago, and they seem happy enough. I don't know if they're all the same, but my bulb holders were thick tubular metal - about the size of a large tin of beans - and that seems to dissipate the small amount of heat nicely. If you have something smaller, I think you'll need to wait for a more appropriate answer. It seems to me that LEDs do still produce some heat, but very little. I've filled my house with them, and they just get a bit warm.

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

Covering the cap of a LED GU10 with insulation will shorten its life.

Only a small amount of insulation needs to be removed around the light. It seems that the OP has had most of the insulation above his bathroom removed! A fist sized hole through the insulation into the loft will usually be fine.

Reply to
ARW

If the ceiling were separating two properties, or was say downstairs, then you lose some of the fire protection by sticking holes through it. In a house of multiple occupation or flats that would be a problem. In a downstairs room in your own house its not a legal problem but still sensible to not compromise the fire protection. Into a loft in your own home it may make little difference.

Reply to
John Rumm

That isn't quite right. They still convert nearly all of the electricity into heat rather than light, but they need much less electricity (so much less heat).

The only catch is that halogens are quite happy running hot enough to burn (wild guess - 80C?), whereas if LEDs get warm they are vulnerable to dramatically shortened lifetimes.

It can be helpful to use the sort of LED downlighter where there is a (slightly) separate power-supply. The power supply can get hot under the insulation, whereas the LED stays cool in the (almost) open air in the bathroom.

Having said all that, I bet that the main reason your bathroom is cold, is nothing to do with the missing insulation. It's that the downlighters are not sealed, and warm air is escaping into the loft. If you fit something like:

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It should seal the drafts and keep you much warmer. (You want fire-rated not to stop the roof from burning, or to save the inhabitants of the loft from smoke, but to keep the warm air in the bathroom.)

Note: I have no experience with this supplier or model - just pointing out the sort of thing.

Reply to
Martin Bonner

I was told that even the fire rated ones need the chimneys to dissipate the heat. Also I think you need to allow for the chance that someone replacing a bulb may not use an LED type.

Richard

Reply to
Tricky Dicky

That may well be true. (Absolutely certainly is true for fire-rated halogens.)

You don't. There is no bulb to replace. (The expected lifetime of the LED is long enough that it is not worth it being separately replaceable from the power supply).

Reply to
Martin Bonner

I doubt it, but that is the sales pitch

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Make sure they are ceramic...

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

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