Coding opinion on downlighters

[Welchyboy1]

Ground floor flat, 3 hallway down lighters not fire rated no fire hoods

take out a down light and I can look up and see the flat above floorboards

C2

 

[James]

Agree with you on that one.

 

[telectrix]

C2 here also.

 

[Zerax]

C2 here also.

+1

 

[JBW175]

I agree, C2 as potentially dangerous.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Yep , open backed lamps with no fire protection from the floor boards above ...

C2

very easy remedy , revoke lights for new can type fittings

 

[Ian1981]

They don’t have to be can fittings to be fire rated, plenty of open backed downlights are fire rated as well.

 

[Dartlec]

Yes I'd say that is one of the clear times that a C2 is warranted. The ceiling should be fire rated plasterboard too in such a case, but that's a building regs issue rather than an electrical regs one.

There are two slightly different issues at work though - one is whether the fire rated lining that has been punctured to install the light has not been degraded, the other is whether the style of lamp could cause damage to the floorboards above if it overheated or caught fire.

I've seen some say that all downstairs downlights should be, even in a normal house, which I'm not so sure about, but when it's a separate dwelling (flat) above it's clearly a potential danger.

 

[JBW175]

Yes I'd say that is one of the clear times that a C2 is warranted. The ceiling should be fire rated plasterboard too in such a case, but that's a building regs issue rather than an electrical regs one.

There are two slightly different issues at work though - one is whether the fire rated lining that has been punctured to install the light has not been degraded, the other is whether the style of lamp could cause damage to the floorboards above if it overheated or caught fire.

I've seen some say that all downstairs downlights should be, even in a normal house, which I'm not so sure about, but when it's a separate dwelling (flat) above it's clearly a potential danger.

That’s given me a different angle to think about, I’d not considered puncturing the ceiling and degrading the fire barrier.

I’d C2’d it purely on the risk of fire to the above apartment should they catch alight.

Always good to get other opinions on it, thanks. ??

 

[Dartlec]

That’s given me a different angle to think about, I’d not considered puncturing the ceiling and degrading the fire barrier.

I’d C2’d it purely on the risk of fire to the above apartment should they catch alight.

Always good to get other opinions on it, thanks. ??

As I understand it (disclaimer: I may well be wrong), the "fire rating" part in description of most lights is to do with whether it will degrade the ceiling that it's in - not to do with whether it will catch fire itself if it overheats (though if it immediately melted I guess it would fail the other test too so they aren't completely separate)

I don't have a copy of BS476-22 nor am I willing to pay for it, so can't be sure exactly what a 'fire rated' fitting has to comply with now, but I believe it' mostly that a fire rated ceiling populated with the light fittings will not fail sooner than the original fire rated ceiling would be expected to.

I had to investigate it a while back for a client who was importing lights from China to resell - all their claims on 'fire rating' related to V-0, which is part of the UL94 standard from the US, which is widely recognised internationally - and is to do with whether the plastic will burn when on fire.

The can type with intumescent material presumably cover both scenarios - though since most are now complete LED fittings they may well have ways of covering both issues too - it's probably rare to install an open backed fitting with separate lamp now.