Where to buy cover for recessed light fixture for insulation?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Where to buy cover for recessed light fixture for insulation?

Batman

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#119581 6-Jun-2013 16:59

As above.

Any ideas?

Johnk

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#831730 6-Jun-2013 17:15

What type of light? Is it a halogen downlight? Grab a heat can from ideal electrical

Batman

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#831732 6-Jun-2013 17:20

it's made for a standard incandescent bulb but i'm using power saving lights so much less heat.

I have a feeling it's cheaper to swap to LED insulated lights but I thought i'd see how this option goes.

will heat cans work for my type of fixture?

timmmay

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#831735 6-Jun-2013 17:23

Do heat cans with insulation over them confirm to regulations? I'd want to check that carefully, as if you do something that causes a fire your insurance may not cover it.

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#831763 6-Jun-2013 18:07

if I were to install LED insulated light in place of these, do I need an electrician?

I also have a device which has wire going into the wall (powered directly from inside the wall), which I want to convert into a double wall socket. Am I able to DIY or do I need an electrician?

stuzzo

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#831777 6-Jun-2013 18:27

http://www.cosydome.co.nz/

gregmcc

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#831790 6-Jun-2013 18:57

joker97: if I were to install LED insulated light in place of these, do I need an electrician?

I also have a device which has wire going into the wall (powered directly from inside the wall), which I want to convert into a double wall socket. Am I able to DIY or do I need an electrician?

you need to get an electrician for both the lights and the possible socket conversion

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Niel

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#831867 6-Jun-2013 21:37

timmmay: Do heat cans with insulation over them confirm to regulations? I'd want to check that carefully, as if you do something that causes a fire your insurance may not cover it.

No. because someone can still fit a 100W bulb and start a fire. It is simply to provide a space between fitting and insulation, but not for insulation covering.

The Cosy Dome mentioned above is an award winning product. But note it is still not IC rated, it just opens when the temperature gets too hot. And it is huge.

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#831869 6-Jun-2013 21:40

gregmcc:
joker97: if I were to install LED insulated light in place of these, do I need an electrician?

I also have a device which has wire going into the wall (powered directly from inside the wall), which I want to convert into a double wall socket. Am I able to DIY or do I need an electrician?

you need to get an electrician for both the lights and the possible socket conversion

Thanks

mattwnz

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#831874 6-Jun-2013 22:05

Niel:
timmmay: Do heat cans with insulation over them confirm to regulations? I'd want to check that carefully, as if you do something that causes a fire your insurance may not cover it.

No. because someone can still fit a 100W bulb and start a fire. It is simply to provide a space between fitting and insulation, but not for insulation covering.

The Cosy Dome mentioned above is an award winning product. But note it is still not IC rated, it just opens when the temperature gets too hot. And it is huge.

Yes it does look huge, wouldn't be any good for skillion roofs where the cavity is quite small, and may not be able to be refrotfitted if the light is too close to the rafter. Can't see any mention of R value on it either , nor it's cost.

Iw ould have thought it would be cheaper and less hassle to buy LED lights. There is one that comes with the fitting and can above all in one, and apparently it can be insulated over, although it does look quite ugly.

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#831947 7-Jun-2013 07:29

The only price I could find was around $50 each. Given an LED downlight you can insulate over only costs $60 on sale (plus electrician of course) I'm not sure if it's a good investment. At $10 or $20 each, sure. They'll stop air blowing through, but they're still a big hole in your insulation.

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#831971 7-Jun-2013 08:36

Where do I find led on sale

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Niel

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#833182 9-Jun-2013 19:23

Bunnings have both Philips and Orbit high power (up to 18W) IC rated LED light fittings around $70-$90 each. You can get the Philips fittings for cheaper through a wholesaler, but I don't think anyone else sells Orbit. Philips has the electronics built in so you can replace your fittings but need an electrician to add more fittings, where as Orbit has an external transformer so if you know what you are doing then you can use 1 large transformer with multiple fittings and not have to get an electrician as the fitting itself is low voltage.

I have some Philips 18W fittings outside (sold in a very plain looking box) and they are very bright, but takes a few seconds to turn on. The first time it actually took about 20-30 seconds for the capacitors to charge up. Fine for outside, but I would not use them indoors. Not dimmable, but I don't care about that anyway.

At some point I'll buy an Orbit fitting to see what it's like, partly because it is the only LED fitting I've ever found that will fit the 120mm holes already in my ceiling.

The heat can referred to before was in a local plastics engineering magazine last year, it won a couple of awards (a product my wide designed also did ;-), but it is really big as it stands up high above the insulation. The valve automatically opens when above a certain temperature. The volume is needed so that when the valve opens it is similar to as if the fitting was normally installed. No R-value, but the pocket of air and the plastic is effective in minimising heat loss.

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mattwnz

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#833186 9-Jun-2013 19:30

Niel:

At some point I'll buy an Orbit fitting to see what it's like, partly because it is the only LED fitting I've ever found that will fit the 120mm holes already in my ceiling.

I would be really interested to know how effective they are. Do you know how much they cost each? I would have thought they could have insulation built into them, otherwise I would have thought that a lot of heat could still be lost from thh room when the lights are off.

Niel

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#833616 10-Jun-2013 16:03

Mattwnz, it's been a number of months and can't remember where I saw the price, but it was in the order of $100 or more. The fact that it stays closed until the heat gets really high means you have no draft and so very little heat loss. The plastic is thick and provides good insulation. I think they are a great idea but too late and too expensive. Might find a market for fire rated installations though.

The other day I've measured the temperature of my light fittings to see if much cold gets in (these are cheap CA rated metallic reflector E27 down light fittings with fat LED bulbs which mostly close the hole to the ceiling). An IR thermometer could not measure any significant gradient on the bulb/fitting compared to the ceiling surface (< 0.2 degree difference). I've still got to do the same measurement from inside the ceiling to check for heat leaking out, but the test was done throughout our home and none of the fittings were cold while the outside air was about 10-15 degrees below room temperature. Don;t get any condensation on the fittings either. I seem to loose much more heat through double glazing windows than through my CA-rated light fittings.

You can never have enough Volvos!