LED bulbs in can fixtures?

[bud16415]

I have a family member that just bought an upscale home about 20 years old 4,000 sq ft, and he had an energy audit done this winter.



The house has many of the old can light fixtures throughout that had incandescent flood lamps in them. The can fixtures are fine but the audit showed all the fixtures on the second floor to be major cold spots leaking heat into the attic space. This type of fixture is left open because of the heating of incandescent lights.



He went thru and changed out all the bulbs on the first floor to LED floods and loves the light level and power savings.



He wants to deal with the second floor problem and also switch to LEDs.



Is it to code to put LED lamps in the old cans and then bury them from above in insulation? I’m sure it would be safe to do as the LEDs produce so little heat, but there could be the fear of someday he sells the home and the next guy puts some hot lamps back in or something.



It seems a waste to replace the several dozen perfect housings he has.

Is there a sticker or something that says LED only that can be put inside the can?

 

[Snoonyb]

The cans should be IC cans.

A sticker can only bring a response as "Really" "who said". Beside which you can look in the fixture and see that the vanity of lamping is up to you.

 

[bud16415]

Thanks @Snoonyb



This makes me wonder if he has IC cans now and just had a poorly done insulation job around them allowing leakage.



It wouldn’t sound reasonable they installed non IC cans in a million dollar home into a cold attic space 20 years ago.

I haven’t looked close at them or been above the ceiling yet. Will I be able to tell from the markings/label inside the can if it has an IC rating? If that is the case all we would have to do then is get up there and add insulation and switch him over to LED lamps.

 

[Sparky617]

If the fixtures aren't IC rated, and you have access from above you could install these. The problem with just piling insulation on the non-IC fixtures is incandescent bulbs are still available and someone *could* replace an LED with an incandescent bulb. What will happen if they do that is the thermocouple will heat up and trip. The light will go off, the thermocouple will cool down, close and the light will come back on. Rinse and repeat until you get tired of the light cycling on and off. The LED lights should never overload the fixture because they don't put out much heat and they don't draw nearly the current of a incandescent bulb. The wattage equivalent isn't important in this, the actually wattage is important.

https://eco-buildingproducts.com/pr...Kt7H0psKmYmOnKuYcaAh72EALw_wcB&v=7516fd43adaa

 

[bud16415]

Thanks Sparky617



That’s the first I have seen the caps and if he does have the non IC fixtures that cap should add enough cooling to allow an incandescent to still work but seal the air leak and allow for insulation on top to stop the heat leakage. I see in the description you can cut and notch them to fit around joists and wires and seal them back up with foam.



Sounds like what the doctor ordered and the family member just happens to be a doctor.

I seriously think moving forward no one is going to keep using incandescent lamps, but about the time you go to sell a house some inspector will catch a non IC buried and bounce you. This is a good option in case he doesn’t have IC with just a poor insulating job done.

 

[havasu]

Don't forget, if you have a dimmer switch to these LED can lights, you may have to purchase a LED compatible dimmer switch.

 

[Michael Armstrong]

Note those caps seem to assume either an open attic or 2x12 joists. And very pricey. Seems to me that any noncombustible insulation around an uninsulated can would achieve the same result.

 

[user 4883]

Maybe you can use an LED can retro instead of LED bulb. They often have a gasket around the collar and seal onto the can.

 

[Sparky617]

Note those caps seem to assume either an open attic or 2x12 joists. And very pricey. Seems to me that any noncombustible insulation around an uninsulated can would achieve the same result.

With an LED light you'd be OK to do that as they don't put out much heat and their current draw is much lower than an equivalent incandescent bulb. However, if someone replaces the LED with an incandescent the thermal overload may kick in.

You can fashion a box out of drywall to cover the fixture to do the same thing. It would take time, but not cost much money. I only linked to the first one I found, there may be other models that are cheaper. Of course the fixtures may be IC rated anyway, the OP didn't know, and it isn't his house. If they are IC rated he can cover them up, and I'd recommend sealing between the fixture housing and the drywall to limit airflow into the attic.

 

[bud16415]

With an LED light you'd be OK to do that as they don't put out much heat and their current draw is much lower than an equivalent incandescent bulb. However, if someone replaces the LED with an incandescent the thermal overload may kick in.

You can fashion a box out of drywall to cover the fixture to do the same thing. It would take time, but not cost much money. I only linked to the first one I found, there may be other models that are cheaper. Of course the fixtures may be IC rated anyway, the OP didn't know, and it isn't his house. If they are IC rated he can cover them up, and I'd recommend sealing between the fixture housing and the drywall to limit airflow into the attic.

Being the OP and you are correct it is a family members house.



Is there an easy way to tell if they are IC rated from below?



I have been staying away from doing a lot of visiting with the covid19, but I was thinking he wanted to DIY the project between winter being so cold in the crawl area to summer being too hot and that is pretty much now. If we could figure out from the markings below and if he’s lucky and they are IC rated he could seal and insulate in no time if not he could order up the foam buckets.

I just don’t know what to tell him to look for.

 

[Sparky617]

Is there an easy way to tell if they are IC rated from below?

You should be able to see a silver sticker inside the fixture that will say IC rated.

 

[bud16415]

You should be able to see a silver sticker inside the fixture that will say IC rated.

Thanks.