Beware of Heat Around Your Recessed Lighting: What You Need to Know

Construction & Contractors Blog

In addition to the actual light that they provide, it's important to remember that ceiling lights also produce a reasonable amount of heat. While this would have been accounted for when your home was constructed and the lighting was installed, any changes to your ceiling lights can also require work inside the ceiling cavity. So what do you need to be aware of?

Recessed Lighting

Have you replaced your ceiling light fixtures since you've moved in? This is particularly important if a standard hanging light fixture has been replaced with recessed lighting (also known as down lighting), built into a hollow in the ceiling. The heat from a hanging light fixture harmlessly dissipates into the air around it, but the heat from recessed lighting is absorbed into the ceiling. When the lights have been in operation for some hours, carefully climb onto a chair or stepladder and touch the ceiling directly around the recessed lighting. Is it warm or even hot? Noticeable heat in this area can be a sign that the insulation in your ceiling cavity has not been properly re-positioned to account for this new source of heat.

Ceiling Insulation

This proper positioning of your ceiling insulation is an important part of electrical maintenance when it comes to your ceiling lights. Overheating poses a fire risk, and there is also the possibility of the entire fixture burning out, which can make rewiring a necessity. The portion of the recessed lighting that is inside your ceiling is housed within a metallic box, and appropriate clearance needs to be provided around this housing unit. This means that your ceiling insulation needs to be positioned a minimum distance from the housing unit in order to prevent overheating. The distance varies depending on the strength and location of the recessed lighting fixture in question. Check inside your ceiling cavity to see that a distance has been left between the housing unit and the insulation. If no gap is obvious, you will need to have this rectified. A roofing contractor or even an electrician will be able to do this for you. 

Maximum Wattage

If the ceiling around the recessed lighting fixture is noticeably warm and an appropriate gap is evident, then the fault might be with the light bulbs themselves. This is also true if you know that the recessed lighting has been there since the house was constructed. If you have installed a light bulb that exceeds the maximum wattage for the fixture, then excess heat can quickly become a problem. You will need to check the allowable wattage and install an incandescent bulb that falls within the fixture's parameters. You could also upgrade to LED light bulbs, which produce less heat than their incandescent cousins.

If your recessed lighting is overheating, it's easy enough to fix the issue. It's important to take care of it as soon as possible, so that the overheating does not become dangerous.

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29 June 2016