Retrofit downlight insulation?

homer911

I have an extension with a vaulted ceiling (is that the right term?). The ceiling has 8 downlights - low voltage MR16s. They were originally 50W Halogens and have have long since been downgraded to 3 or 5W LEDs. Because of the original high wattage, the builder put a significant break in the insulation around them to avoid them over-heating. Unfortunately on a windy day there is significant heat leak and draughts.

Most (all?) insulation solutions seem to involve putting hoods on the holes during the build phase, clearly not possible now and I have no access behind/above the ceiling.

Are there any alternatives? Is there any sort of hood that can be slid in from the room side?

One option I'm considering is getting thermal hoods for the lights, getting a roofer to remove the roof tiles above the light fittings and fitting the hoods (sealing them) and adding more insulation??

drury..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058366087/retrofit-downlight-insulation

There are "insulation coverable" downlights on the market. Don't go at the roof ffs😁

Not sure how much of an issue covering standard led gu10s is . I think it may affect lamp life.

astrofool

You could push in the insulation from below (using rockwool) and then use a collapsible hood like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intumescent-Downlight-Heatguards-Recessed-Firehoods/dp/B081HGBLDV

There will still be voids, but it should eliminate a lot of the drafts.

drury..

Presumably the op has the old open-type downlight allowing a draught

10-10-20

Any of the collapsible hoods out there are for fire resistance only and won't offer much if any draft proofing.

What I ended up doing with mine was what astrofool mentioned - packing in some insulation and then installing a hood, but I then installed IP rated downlights (they were actually shower types) which seal with a silicone ring, but still allow me to access the bulb. I then sealed these into the plasterboard ceiling as best I could with an adhesive. It's a big-big improvement, but not perfect.

homer911

I may just check out if the breeze is coming from around the fitting or from around the light bulb (probably the latter) and see if I can get an O ring that would create a seal

drury..

Not clear if you converted to GU10 lampholder or fitted 12v LED lamps

Anyway simplest solution is probably to rip out fittings and trafos if present and fit GU10 led bathroom fittings

Not an expert on the draught proofing side of things but should stop most of it

Open to correction if there's a better way

homer911

Taking a closer look at my bulbs I saw that despite being low-wattage LEDs, they still had in-built venting around the bulb itself, allowing unobstructed airflow into/out of the room! That explains the breeze..

phormium

I have vaulted sunroom with 8 recessed downlights, greatest cause of draughts ever! Anyway it's high and most of the bulbs were blown at this stage (seldom lights on in there anyway) and I wanted to get it painted this year. Changed all the downlights to totally enclosed LED ones so no draught coming down from there anymore, there was reasonable insulation above them as it happened.

I had similar in an upstairs bathroom, you could see the steam from the shower escaping up through the spaces in the downlight so obviously draughts were coming other way from attic too, you could feel it easily with your hand.

With recent storm the draught from sunroom doors which were closed was basically gone, normally the draught would blow the cutains in, now there was a few gaps around the floor which I sealed as well but I blamed those downlighters for the bulk of it and they obviously were!

Had to order them on Amazon as could not get exact fit for the hole sizes easily and was not messing with trying to change them.