Anxious About Spotlights

[Rain]

Has anyone had any trouble with spotlights on their ceiling? Our house was built 8 years ago and has 18 ceiling spotlights spread between three rooms. One day, an electrician came for some other purpose and was in our attic. He said the builders had placed insulation on top of the spotlights and that this was wrong. He said he’d be back next week and would cut holes in the insulation around the spotlights. He didn’t return and we kind of forgot about it.

I was just talking to my friend in England on Skype who is a fire fighter and somehow the topic of these lights came up. When I told him what the electrician had told us, my friend said that this was a very bad fire hazard as these spotlights get really hot. I’m worrying now as we’ll never be able to get anyone to come out before Christmas. Hopefully someone technical will read this. Will it be okay if we let the lights cool down every few hours or is it so hazardous that we should use lamps over Christmas?

[mikewales]

It is dangerous, spotlights should never have insulation put over them as they do get really hot, particularly the mini ones.

If you can get into the attic, you can always just remove the insulation yourself, just work out where the lights are and pull it off were it is above them.

It isn't really any safer to turn them off after a few hours as it doesn't take long for them to heat up, but for your own peace of mind you can always just use lamps until you can get someone to come out ( or lots of candles to make it more xmassy )

[Rain]

Thanks Mike