{Disarmed} RE: Dimming halogens bad for lamp life? Building Regs

["Dean Barrett" <dean@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry perhaps the Mains not LV to suit part E was a little misleading.

Prior to Part E - downlight installation was dead easy, LV was our prefered
choice due to Mains halogen lamp life, and light output. When Part E was
introduced our initial route to compliance was standard LV fitting complete
with Intumescent hood which complied to Part E and B.

Coupled with our solution the developers also had to provide their part of
Part E compliance and in many instances this was install fibreglass to the
ceiling voids. This created a major overheating issue for LV fittings, 1
was
that the hood restricted airflow and warped cast Aluminium fittings which
means it was getting bl**dy hot in there. The second was that the once
'free' in the void airspace were now covered with insulation causing
cutting
out problems when too hot. All transformers used by ourselves have internal
thermal overload trips to ensure the transformer does not melt.

This caused us a major headache as developers still wanted downlights, but
we didnt want to install them, as the failure rate was rising horrendously.
Then the clever manufacturers came up* with an all in one fitting that
complies to Parts B, C, and E. This is available in both LV and Mains, but
still required the transformer to be placed in the fibreglass. Therefore we
go with Mains now :)

* There had been a manufacturer provided part B compliant and the
subsequent
E compliant fitting around for a number of years, but due to their
'monopoly' in that area decided to price to the specifiers not the
installers.

Long winded way round get to the reason behind out choice.

For those who have read this and are now thinking why didnt they put
transformers out of the way, fit bird cages/flower pots etc. Simple answer
really. Many of these fittings were installed in flats or houses with MF
ceilings and concrete mid floors so no access from above, and during the
period Nov 04, to May '05 we installed in excess of 3000 downlights.....

Any other queries ref Noise/Fire etc. ask away - i think i've look at
nearly
every solution on the market


Dean.


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From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
David Chapman
Sent: 12 October 2005 15:19
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Dimming halogens bad for lamp life? Building Regs


> Have had issues in the past with Mains Halogen generally, but are now
> fitting more of them than ever to satisfy Part E of the building regs.

Why do you need to change to mains halogen to meet the regs ? Would be very
interested to know, selbuilding at the moment and planning to use LV (for
better light) but there appears to be huge confusion over what you can and
can't do relating to acoustic and fire ratings of ceiling.

David C







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