Downlighter reliability (and other things !)

Modern downlights are 3 or 4 watts. If they are in a big case, with airflow, I can't see why they would get hot. Much of the heat advice about fitting seems to date from the era of 40 watt incandescent bulbs.

The spring wrecks my ceiling, you can buy surrounding rings to re-enforce the plasterboard for about the same price as a downlight.

I use downlights with GU10 replaceable bulbs, easy to replace, no need to go near the spring.

In my kitchen GU10 bulbs last 5 years+, which is long enough.

When I fitted three in the bathroom (to replace halogens), two were ok but the other damaged the plasterboard and is, shall we say, not exactly flat against it!

I detest recessed downlighters, the damage they cause to the ceiling, and the problem in replacing them with anything other than another downlighter. :-(

A lot of advice was about fitting LED bulbs into down lighters that were not designed for LEDS especially fittings with inadequate heat sinking and/or no air flow.

I meant when I fitted mine, there were rules about how close they could be to a rafter, etc. Suggesting downlights with 40w bulbs got really hot.

I think you are talking about the GU10 LED bulbs getting slightly warm, and that this shortens their lifespan, compared to an integrated LED downlight. This may well be true, but it is easier to replace ten GU10 bulbs than it is to replace one integrated fitting.

Correct. I tried putting G9 4W leds into movable, unventilated, glass "shades" originally used with 35W halogens. They didn't last. I think that G9s were amongst the worst leds for replacing halogens as they were so small, and the bases were very prone to overheating.