At my old house, the downlighters upstairs used to flicker and go out after they had been on for of an hour. I thought that the bulbs had blown but after being in the loft I realised that it was the transformers overheating. They were covered in loft insulation.

A client of mine had a £110k claim after a single down lighter overheated  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Upon inspection, the transformer was touching the metal case of the bulbholder. You could clearly see where it had overheated  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Postman Pat will be calling

 Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

chicken george wrote:

rip them out replace with led

Bill,
Something I shall definately consider once I get low on bulbs
Never had downlights before and I hate the things.

1, The spring clips damage the ceiling getting the metal can out
2, They get blimming hot. Too hot for my liking. Dunno how the regs or common sense allow it. I'd never have got away with it in the auto industry or even wanted too. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

It would seem you have been having a lot of trouble with your down light recessed fittings.
Firstly, if they are of older design then they should of been fitted with fire hoods. All new ones now come with built in fire rated hoods and have done for a while. There are basically 3 types of light you can get.
1, 12v low voltage that run off a transformer which must not be covered by anything.
2, 230v mains GU10 lamps and hood, again very hot when running and must not be covered by anything.
3, Now the latest generation of recessed lighting "LED", these have a certain number of LEDs, run very cool and at around 7 watts of energy for each fitting are very cheap to run. However, you get what you pay for and this new type of light sells for around the £40 mark depending on where you buy from.
Being an electrician by trade I have fitted many of all the different types of recess lighting over the years and find these latest ones to be the best so far. If you would like some free advise on recess lighting just drop me a line "PM" with your inquiry and I will try and help you find out what you want to know cheers Darren.

led lighting is saving me approx £10 per day in the chicken sheds , more financial return than my solar panels at 1/2 the price.

expensive things maybe but if there on plenty then well worth it,


led in a bedroom or store room etc would struggle to make financial sense, but kitchens hallways etc very sensible At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race