Lights in the attic and insulation

Hi,

long time lurker sticking my head up for the first time!

I'm after some advice on what to do about insulating my attic space. The issue is that the previous owner of the house installed lights in the bathroom (among other places) that partly protrude into the attic, along with all the associated wiring. He didn't bother to insulate those parts of the attic, so I guess he didn't have this problem, but how do I go about protecting the lights when I put down insulation? Is there a 'correct' way to do this? Ultimately I would like to board the attic floor as well as insulate it.

The lights in question are dichroics, and get very hot, so I'm concerned about creating a fire hazard.

Any pointers would be gratefully received.

Regards, Glenn.

Reply to
Glenn Booth
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One method I heard about to keep the insulation off the back of the light, is to use a terracotta plant pot on the ceiling above with the power leads going through the hole.

On the other hand, I believe you can get purpose made pot equivalents with an intumescent liner

Rick... (The other Rick)

Reply to
Rick

is to use a terracotta

Make a large pot. Seal up the hole, cut a notch in the rim for the cable and seal the rim to the plasterboard with silicon.

an intumescent liner

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

You can get proper covers to put above the lights - you can also use an appropriate size pot flowerpot to do the same job and keep the insulation away from the lamp.

Reply to
Peter Parry

My own suggestion is to use empty biscuit tins (first, eat all the biccies :-)

The volume of a "standard" biscuit tin (about ten inches each side and about three inches deep) should be enough to disperse any heat, and the tin material should take care of any fire worries.

Mungo

Reply to
mungoh

Screwfix, amongst other places, sell 'fire hoods' for this purpose:

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Reply to
Mathew Newton

In message , Glenn Booth writes

I noticed in B&Q they had proper metal covers for down-lighters. About

100mm square by 150mm high, galvanised steel. 2 in a box for a tenner ISTR. Located somewhere among all the down-lighter kits in the lighting aisle.
Reply to
Steven Briggs

Hi,

(every time I visit the plumbed-library) and I didn't see those. Thanks very much for the pointer. I was too busy drooling over cordless SDS gear.

Thanks also to all who suggested the tight-git's 'flowerpot' version. Much cheaper, and probably almost as effective (but probably not as easy to impress the loss adjuster with).

I'll work out the price difference, multiple by 'value of wife and children in case of fire' and go with the winner!

thanks, Glenn.

Reply to
Glenn Booth

Or the catering-size round instant coffee tins can usually be purloined from offices etc.

If you clean the labels off, punch some holes in the top, and fit a lampholder, you have a contemporary stylish luminaire without queueing for hours at Ikea, and the lampholder and flex from B&Q will only cost you £3.47 more than Ikea would charge for the whole thing.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Ceramics do not get hot and a tin is not air-tight.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

Large pots are cheap, but seal up the hols, which can be with broken put and silicon, notch the rim for the cable and seal the rim using silicon. Totally fireproof and sealed. Having the ceiling sealed is important for fire and keeping heat in the house.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel
[Nothing]

Seems your love of snipping others posts has finally worked for you too. Keep up the good work.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Didn't the death of Best give you a warning about alcohol abuse to this extent?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

** snip more senility **

His cardigan must stick with all that dribble down the front.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

Boy are you cheap...and nasty.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

....On the good ship Plowman they all did sail ....he was the skipper to no avail

....he sent the crew atop the mast ....until he spouted to them at last

....I'll keele haul ye, I will be jabers ....so cut the masts and make em into cabers

....because of cabers the ship did wreck ....I have my cabers said cap'n, so what the heck

... the breaking of law the police did pursue ....Cap'n Plowman was dragged into public view

....the court did hear on sinking, the cap'ns outburst ....the "cap'n then children are in the boats first" ....this cowardly act was viewed with sighs ...."he must go down" from the jury were cries

....the judge did say in all his day ....a case so bad he did not sit ...."the mans a fool I will commit"

....the judge, he screamed, "an idiotic fool" ....the capn' now resides as uk.d-i-y newsgroup tool

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

The thought of having you anywhere near my front is not nice. Or back, come to that.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

** snip senile frothing **

The man is such an idiot.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

As an alternative to flower pots (proprietary or from the garden centre), my preferred solution is to remove the halogen abominations and install some lighting that doesn't need several power stations to run.

Decent CFLs will use a fraction of the energy, and hence, have a fraction of the heat output, so are much more suitable for domestic space lighting requirements. They also have a much better pattern of light, so actually need a lower light output, too, for the same level of illumination. Flush mounted fittings (if you have limited headroom) are available that can be insulated right over the top without overheating, whilst halogens (suitably protected) with insulation over will probably overheat (especially dichroic) and pop with frightening regularity.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Hi,

We concur. I don't like halogens, and they are greedy. I was hoping to avoid having to make good the resulting six big holes in the ceiling though!

CFL? Cold fluourescents maybe? I haven't heard that term.

The ones here already pop with frightening regularity. We have them all over the place - I think there are 18 in the kitchen alone. I'm going to start replacing them with something a bit more eco-friendly. With all the ceiling lights on in the kitchen it's burning something like 500 watts, which is totally unecessary in my book.

I think I'll have another look in the attic and see how much work would be needed to replace them. Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards,

Glenn.

Reply to
Glenn Booth

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