Mark42

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I bought a stock of Elco LFCRHF270 twin 6ft T8 'non-corrosion' IP65 fluorescent fittings some time ago, on offer from QVS.

They were held in stock by us for a long time, but 20 of them were recently fitted.

The plastic clips which hold the diffuser to the body appear very brittle, and sometimes broke when closing. But during the last couple of months it has got worse. The diffusers have started falling from the fittings by themselves, despite having a full complement of 12 clips in place.

Has anyone else had trouble with Elco diffuser clips?

All three in one unheated garage area have fallen off, with damage to a vehicle roof.

Due to the design, there's no easy way or replacing the clips with something else.Elco used to supply replacement metal clips, part No. LFCRHFMC (I wonder why?) but these too are no longer available

I telephoned Elco just now but they were not interested. They say it's a discontinued product (despite being shown in a pdf catalogue still on their web site), have no spares, were very dismissive of my complaint, and suggested I contact QVS as my 'contract was with them.'

The product was clearly never of 'merchantable quality', although as the fittings were bought some time ago, they are out of warranty.

Were these fitted in an office, the diffusers could easily hit people, resulting in all kinds of legal issues. I wonder what the position would be. For example, office worker injured, goes to court for compensation, electrical contractor says, "Naa mate, fitting bought more than 12 months ago, so what if it's made of rubbish material and falls off the ceiling? I didn't make the thing, it's out of warranty, so it's not my problem." Good luck with that :-)
 
Elco tend to be fairly low quality although I have fitted a few of them I have only had one clip crack and have had no reports of diffusers falling free.
However I did yesterday fit an ELCO 2D bulkhead where the ballast failed immediately!

For the whole diffuser to fall from one of those fittings I would expect that installer error may be the cause, perhaps the clips were cracking as they were installed and if the fitting were hit and caused the clips to start to fail then it could cascade perhaps.

A possible temporary fix might be to cable tie them on but this would not look good at all, either from a visual or professional point of view.
 
Manufacturers of equipment ARE required to be able to supply parts for time AFTER equipment is discontinued.

That said I avoid QVS like the plague as I don't trust them....
 

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Mark42

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If you're a qualified, trainee, or retired electrician - Which country is it that your work will be / is / was aimed at?
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Title
Rubbish Elco fluorescent fitting diffusers falling from the ceiling. Known issue?
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Electrical Tools and Products
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