What a load of rubbish

[ackbarthestar]

I installed some Robus fire rated downlights in a customers bathroom about 5 years ago. I get a call from her to say one of the fittings exploded.

I thought at this point I'd better go round and have a look and sure enough the metal surround had fallen out and smashed on the floor after the lamp had exploded.
What shocked me that the heat generated from these GU10 halogens was sufficient to cause the Chrome plating to bubble away from the surrounding dural aluminum surround plate...

It maybe that the wrong lamps were fitted or that the fire rated fittings were from a dodgy batch.

I wonder if anybody else has had this type of problem - its a first for me and I've been sniffing around for nearly 30 years....

 

[Amp David]

Chrome plating bubbling, you mean the chrome self adhesive sticky back plastic!

Don't like Robus myself either, have used them in the past but not for a while now. Alway thought they were a quality brand but always seemed cheap to me

 

[oldtimer]

If I recall you should fit aluminium reflectror lamps and not dichroic

 

[bugsy]

Have they changed the lamps during this period and if so were they up to spec?

 

[GT1]

What was above the lights that needed protection from fire ingress..?
Or was it a flat with a flat above.?

All I'm saying is where was the heat going from the lamps?
Fire rated lamps are ok, but a waste of time in a bathroom if none of the other fittings in the other rooms aren't fire rated too.
Not so many fires start in a bathroom..!
Could be a dodgy bulb. I've had a few jobs where downlight bulbs gone in spectacular fashion...

 

[ackbarthestar]

It was a straight forward bathroom install with a bedroom above. I took the complete fitting out and the wiring was in good condition with no signs of heat damage. The heat appears to have been expelled from the bottom. All the fittings have some form of damage to their facing rings.

I will be taking some photos this afternoon to show the wholesalers.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Fit low energy LED lamps, problem solved. OK you may need to take an expensive hit initially, but it soon pays itself back. I paid about £5 a piece for the ones in my bathroom a year ago, and they are still as good as new, and so are the light units, and they were only about a fiver each as well.

Cheers..........Howard

 

[malcolmsanford]

Years to come when I'm on the great building site in the sky ..................you lads will say remember that old fart on the forum years ago knocking on about down lighters and halogen lamps ..................

Well I'm still knocking on about them .....................the things are not only the worse lighting you can imagine they are also little electric fires installed into ceilings...............

 

[ackbarthestar]

I have suggested fitting LEDs into the fittings, but that isn't my problem.

Its the fact the fittings cannot cope with the heat generated by these haolgens, even though they were regarded as the 'bees knees' a few years back - So much for manufacturing standards and testing

 

[Flyingsparks]

I have seen too many scorched joists, melted cables and transformers.

These type of lights are a major fire risk and in my opinion should be banned !

We now actively discourage our customers from having them and alway promote the use of LED downlights such as Halers.

 

[mogga]

HALERS EVOLVLED No heat problems

only problem is the4 guy I fitted 15 for in his chipshop now wants 35 fitted all over the place in his new build 500k house I wish Id never introduced him to them ffs

 

[ackbarthestar]

Here you go, a couple of David Bailey's
Well I was going to send them but the upload failed 3 times so that's that then !

 

[ackbarthestar]

HALERS EVOLVLED No heat problems

only problem is the4 guy I fitted 15 for in his chipshop now wants 35 fitted all over the place in his new build 500k house I wish Id never introduced him to them ffs

I feel for you .... :teeth_smile: Its tough making money in this climate :cheesy:

BTW, where on earth do these emoticons come from ? some of them are absolute rubbish.

 

[Andy 7671]

Years to come when I'm on the great building site in the sky ..................you lads will say remember that old fart on the forum years ago knocking on about down lighters and halogen lamps ..................

Well I'm still knocking on about them .....................the things are not only the worse lighting you can imagine they are also little electric fires installed into ceilings...............

12 years ago Im on my first job as a mate installing and lamping these in flats , no firecaps, anyway circuits get energised decorators etc and a couple drop a little on their springs so I take one out ...although Id done as I was told and cut away 100mm around contact area the celotex had melted.

Told me boss and he couldnt care less, "Oh well if it gets too hot the lamp will blow or something of that ilk"

Left that firm on friday and went round agents to tell them.

I had them feelings you said but not the experiance to back it up.

 

[Jay Sparks]

Fit low energy LED lamps, problem solved. OK you may need to take an expensive hit initially, but it soon pays itself back. I paid about £5 a piece for the ones in my bathroom a year ago, and they are still as good as new, and so are the light units, and they were only about a fiver each as well.

Cheers..........Howard

Ive just fit 20 of these for a customer. Brilliant white with 29 leds in each lamp, Equivilent to 10 watts each. 10in the kitchen and 10 in a room/lounge. What a difference they made alot brighter than the halogen and energy saving ones she had fit before. They cost me about £4 each but that was at a discounted price. Would defo recommend them to someone else.

Jay

 

[ackbarthestar]

I've just done a little more research, checked my documents as well as a chat with the wholesaler and found that the downlights were JCC IP65 JC9010, fire rated suitable for bathrooms.

Not 'Robus' as previously presumed. Installed April 2008.

They are certainly not suitable with Halogen lamps. The heat generated in such a confined space is /was a poor design move....