I have a run of 3 non-IC halogen lights in my family room. There is a crawl space above the family room. My wife is complaining about a cool downdraft from these lights. Can I safely build an insulated wooden box for 1-3 lights between studs to go over these cans? How high need it be?
--Astro
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- Cold downdraft with non-IC halogens
no. not if someone was cheap when they bought the lights and did not get the proper insulated boxs(high hats) for them. insulating them could lead to a fire hazzard. even using cement board will still cause the area to heat up beyond safe temperatures.
I read some documentation about those cans that said "no insulation within 6 inches". I took that to mean that you could insulate, but not close to the unit.
Something I did that seems to help - I replaced the cylinder-shaped plastic inserts with cone shape inserts. (Got them from HomeD for around 4$ each.)
My reason was to get more and better light by going from black inserts to white. It made a great improvement in the lighting and seems to have helped with the air drafts as well. I'm saving $$ by using lower wattage bulbs and dimmers because of much-improved lighting.
Something I did that seems to help - I replaced the cylinder-shaped plastic inserts with cone shape inserts. (Got them from HomeD for around 4$ each.)
My reason was to get more and better light by going from black inserts to white. It made a great improvement in the lighting and seems to have helped with the air drafts as well. I'm saving $$ by using lower wattage bulbs and dimmers because of much-improved lighting.
