DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi, My electrician when I had my house rewired installed a lot of downlighters for me.

In a couple of place, the downlight's location was right on a joist. In these cases he has cut out a notch to give the light some room.

The downlights get a little warm (not unusual I know) and I'm probably unreasonably worried that the joist area around the down light will get too warm.

Does anyone know if there is any paint/substance I can put on the wooden joist to reflect the heat so that the temperature rise on the joist is kept at a safe level?

To be honest, the joist gets a little warm after a couple of hours with the light on, but not enough I think to ignite. Though I have not had my floor boards put down yet and thus heat can escape easily - this may not be the case so much when the boards are back on - hence my worry.

The notch is on the side of the joist so if you can imagine, only between 1/2 and 2/3rds of the light is in the notch.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[quote="GunnerDubs"]Hi, My electrician when I had my house rewired installed a lot of downlighters for me.

In a couple of place, the downlight's location was right on a joist. In these cases he has cut out a notch to give the light some room.

The downlights get a little warm (not unusual I know) and I'm probably unreasonably worried that the joist area around the down light will get too warm.

Does anyone know if there is any paint/substance I can put on the wooden joist to reflect the heat so that the temperature rise on the joist is kept at a safe level?

To be honest, the joist gets a little warm after a couple of hours with the light on, but not enough I think to ignite. Though I have not had my floor boards put down yet and thus heat can escape easily - this may not be the case so much when the boards are back on - hence my worry.

The notch is on the side of the joist so if you can imagine, only between 1/2 and 2/3rds of the light is in the notch.

Any help is greatly appreciated.[/quote]

GUNNERDUBS

Not aware of anything to put on joists to cope with heat.
you could invest in fire proof cowls to place over down
lighters to shield joist from heat.
if lights r for instance r GU10 , S , rated at 50 watt , then
u could try down grading wattage to 35 watts , to lower
heat loss temperature.

BLAKEY1963

There are two regulations 422.3.1 and 422.4.2 both say spotlights should be 0.5 meters from combustible materials. Also 422.3.2 limits the heat to 90 degrees. To use where you say it must have a triangle with apex to bottom and a D inside triangle or same thing with F in it. I would consider cold cathode or LED lights where you have problem.