Flush lighting

[Paul2886]

Advice please, I know you're out there.
Just been to a care home to conduct a FRA and noticed they have a number of these small halogen type flush lights fitted. They are the older type and are not 'fire rated'. Besides the fire risk from the very hot lamps they also breach any fire resistance affording by the ceilings. The management were not over pleased when I mentioned this as they don't want, of course, to replace them. Do you think I'm thinking ritht here. Ta

[kurnal]

Hi Paulm
Yes if installed in a fire resisting ceiling these lamps must have an intumescent hood otherwise the  fire resisting ceiling will be breached. There are numerous suppliers of these hoods and prices range from £2-£4 each. Try a google- I found loads last time I looked. It may be necessary to change the bulbs to those that reflect most of the heat downwards if fitting hoods- otherwise the wiring at the top of the fitting may overheat under the intumescent hood. Some bulbs are designed to dissipate the heat above the fitting.

Its a real issue in many care homes and hotels. Not only do these horrible things breach the fire resistance they consume huge amounts of power for very little effective lighting.  Like you I always check thse things and have never yet found hoods installed by electricians. And yet its aways me that takes the flack not the incompetent fool that installed them.

[Paul2886]

Hi Paulm
Yes if installed in a fire resisting ceiling these lamps must have an intumescent hood otherwise the  fire resisting ceiling will be breached. There are numerous suppliers of these hoods and prices range from £2-£4 each. Try a google- I found loads last time I looked. It may be necessary to change the bulbs to those that reflect most of the heat downwards if fitting hoods- otherwise the wiring at the top of the fitting may overheat under the intumescent hood. Some bulbs are designed to dissipate the heat above the fitting.

Its a real issue in many care homes and hotels. Not only do these horrible things breach the fire resistance they consume huge amounts of power for very little effective lighting.  Like you I always check thse things and have never yet found hoods installed by electricians. And yet its aways me that takes the flack not the incompetent fool that installed them.

Thanks Kurnal, Always good to hear sound comments by others. Unfortunately in this business you're occasionally deemed by customers as a bad choice of fire risk assessor if you find problems, or likely to cost them money, or as we would put it, doing our jobs right.

[John Webb]

Hi Paulm
..... It may be necessary to change the bulbs to those that reflect most of the heat downwards if fitting hoods- otherwise the wiring at the top of the fitting may overheat under the intumescent hood. Some bulbs are designed to dissipate the heat above the fitting.....

"Dichroic" bulbs are the ones that allow heat to pass through the back of the bulb and are the ones that often need changing when FR hoods are fitted. However LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamps are now becoming available with a light output approaching the same as as the 20W 12Volt lamp but with around a 1 to 3 watt consumption and run very cool indeed.

...Not only do these horrible things breach the fire resistance they consume huge amounts of power for very little effective lighting....

12 volt lamps are about twice the efficiency of ordinary mains General Service lamps, and with a longer bulb life as well, for which I rather like them - if there's not enough light then the lighting designer is at fault!

[kurnal]

Thanks John for putting me right. I am a big fan of the LED technology ( 'specially on me bike).  


My main hatred is for those 240volt 50 watt bulbs which I commonly find in these situations. The concealed fitting and focussed beam are good for the illunination of specific points in a room but do not give a good level of general lighting in my experience. I was in a nice hotel a couple of weeks ago  which had five of these in a bathroom and it was still too gloomy to read the paper in the bath. Thats 250 watts whereas a conventional 100 watt would would have been more than ample.

[John Webb]

The small 240v bulbs (GU10 bases I think they are sold as) are no better in my experience than the older GLS lamps. They do avoid the minor inconvenience of a transformer, but have only half the efficiency of the 12V bulbs and a shorter life - and they are more expensive on the whole....