Ceiling downlighters

[Michael Hopkins]

Hi,

My new house has lots of ceiling downlighters (12V) all with 50W bulbs. Consequently, my electricity bill is sky high compared with my old house - where every room had a low energy bulb! Turning on one room of lights here uses more electricity than the entire house of lights in the old place!

I plan to replace the bulbs with 35W fairly soon, as this will reduce the running costs by 30%. But in the long term, are there any low energy fitting that could replace these power hungry fittings, using the holes that would be left in my ceilings if I took them out?

Michael

[Stephen Dawson]

"Michael Hopkins" wrote in message news:44e80d22$1 [e-mail]...

You can get a low energy fiting made by JCC, the only thing you will need to check is the diameter of the hole. Is your house brand new, if so you should have low energy lamps some where in it

[John McLean]

I'd be inclined to fit electronic dimmer switches and trim the level of illumination to suit. Jaymack

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:20:16 +0100 someone who may be "Michael Hopkins" wrote this:-

I hope you got a suitable reduction in the price for the stupid lighting arrangements.

some of the bulbs you could use in mains downlighters, there are a few more.

I suggest getting one of each and experimenting with them, before converting room by room. You may find that in some rooms it is better to cover the holes and use a different sort of fitting.

You also need to find out if the existing lights have individual transformers. If they don't then you have a more complicated job.

[Michael Hopkins]

Thanks. It's not brand new, but was extended and renovated by the previous owners. However, there are several standard fittings which I have converted to low energy bulbs immediately.

[Michael Hopkins]

Thanks - I understand, though, that dimmer switches don't reduce the amount of electricity drawn, just how much gets to the bulb, and my concern is as much about running costs as excess light.

[Michael Hopkins]

Actually the house belongs to me my employer as it's a "tied cottage" (although actually a large 4 bedroomed house) - a Manse, in fact.

Given some local difficulties in finding a house of the right size in the right area at the right price, the lights were a mainor consideration then - and I didn't realise how much juice they used.

I think the previous owners had the view that they wanted the house to look cool with the latest fashions and runnign costs were no object to them.

They do have individual transformers.

Thanks, Michael

[Jan Larsen]

They are not halogen capsule bulbs? My wife demanded the purchase of two rather nice lamps for our hallway, the lamps themselves looks nice but I was flabbergasted to find them fitted with 6 20 Watt halogen capsules each I did manage to find some 5 Watt halogen capsules somewhere, cant remember where exactly. They were slightly more expensive than higher wattage ones but at least it brought the power consumption of the lamps down a bit. My wife has since forgotten about the lamps and never turn them on as the staircase lamp illuminates the only part of the hallway she traverses outside of daylight hours. They are rather nice lamps though.

//J

[The Natural Philosopher]

Your understanding is at fault.

[Bob Eager]

If that were the case, your dimmer switches would be radiating a large amount of heat....

[Andy Burns]

Indeed I remember the dimmers used in the lighting gallery of my school's stage, it got mighty warm up there ...

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 09:08:06 +0100 someone who may be "Michael Hopkins" wrote this:-

Then you are lucky. You can get standard mains downlighters to replace the low voltage ones and wire them in easily. You may need to enlarge the hole and check there is enough space above for the mains ones, which will probably be taller.

The mains ones can take an appropriate energy saving bulb. Check the length as well as the diameter. Check also that the switches are not overloaded when switching off.

[The Wanderer]

Have you investigated LED replacements?

[Owain]

Ah, they missed the sermon about stewardship of the earth then... :-)

Owain

[Andy Hall]

Which would tell you that these "low energy" pukey CFL bulbs are really a big Jodrell Bank.

[Christian McArdle]

Indeed, although the effect is the same. The inefficiency is taken up in the bulb, rather than the dimmer. To halve the light output of a bulb, you have to drop the power only by a fraction. Also, halogen bulbs don't like being dimmed, as it reduces the redeposition of filament material, dramatically shortening bulb life. This was why they abandoned the dim-dip regulations for cars. The light bulbs kept popping, which was considered a safety risk.

Christian.