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Paul HansenWell it is great to be in and on the hub and see it working.
Our experiance to date with the new light regs has been limited due to the relatively short time on the market. IC-F is the best rating and allows insulation to be abutted and/or covering the light. In my view, until you cover the light you will never achieve the optimum R-value from your insulation.
As installers we have to be very wary of what ratings existing lights have. To this end unless we can visually id the rating on the light fitting or associated documents, we will still put in previoulsy existing clearances around lights. We do this because if it all goes pear shaped and there is a house fire, we the installers will be liable. A house fire I can live with. A death in the house fire I can’t. So the potential risk AND liablity are huge. I will not take a homeowners word that the lights are IC-F rated or evn the CA & IC rated lights which allow close abuttment of insulation.
So if you are getting the above rated lights installed and the ceiling space commercially insulated, keep the spec sheet from the lights. If a sparkie installs them get a Compliance sheet stating what he has installed to make it clearer and simpler for the insulation team to verify.
This light issue has been a pain in the proverbial butt for a long time and I think we are starting to make real progress now with the type of lights coming onto the market. LED’s operate at such a low temp they are now where near the hazard of existing lights. The scary ones are definately the halogens with wire bound transformers (typically black). The wire bound transformers themselves get very hot and I have seen them fail and melt. The level of non compliant light install historicall is also very high.
