HELP! Halo Recessed Lights - Heat Loss through Fixture is HUGE!
 

I am officially at the begging stage... Here's my story:

Bought a house with 30 Halo 6" recessed cans, H7's. Cathedral ceilings
throughout the house. I can not get "behind" any of these fixtures.
The cans are original installs, which means they are not the retrofit
models... they have a large frame around the cans. They are NOT
air-tite, and are NOT insulation contact rated. They are,
unfortunately, the cheapest Halo 6" recessed cans the electrician could
have installed 12 years ago. When you put your hand near these things
you feel WIND... not air movement.... WIND. There is insulation in the
roof, just not near the cans.

I NEED TO STOP THIS AIR FLOW! but, I have no desire (read: wife says
no) to rip out the sheetrock and original H7 fixtures and rebuild my
entire ceiling. Plus, its too expensive.

SO, what can I do? I know they make Insulation contact rated remodel
fixtures, but I can't get the original fixture out of the ceiling. I
can remove the can itself though, but the frame and round bracket are
still up there. I thought of trying to take the can part of the
fixture out and put the airtite remodel version up there, but I don't
know if it will fit through the frame. Anyone have experience with
this?

Also, I see they make an airtite Eyeball kit, the 78PAT (for almost 30
bucks!) which has a gasket around it... perhaps using this airtite
eyeball to replace the existing non airtite eyeballs will help the
situation?

While I would love to get insulation up there around the cans, I will
be happy with just stopping the air loss. 30 cans times 3-4 CFM of air
movement is causing doors to move on their own.

Can ANYONE offer suggestions, or, preferably, EXPERIENCE stories on
what to do in this situation?

Thanks much!

"WM" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am officially at the begging stage... Here's my story:

Bought a house with 30 Halo 6" recessed cans, H7's. Cathedral ceilings
throughout the house. I can not get "behind" any of these fixtures.
The cans are original installs, which means they are not the retrofit
models... they have a large frame around the cans. They are NOT
air-tite, and are NOT insulation contact rated. They are,
unfortunately, the cheapest Halo 6" recessed cans the electrician could
have installed 12 years ago. When you put your hand near these things
you feel WIND... not air movement.... WIND. There is insulation in the
roof, just not near the cans.

I NEED TO STOP THIS AIR FLOW! but, I have no desire (read: wife says
no) to rip out the sheetrock and original H7 fixtures and rebuild my
entire ceiling. Plus, its too expensive.

SO, what can I do? I know they make Insulation contact rated remodel
fixtures, but I can't get the original fixture out of the ceiling. I
can remove the can itself though, but the frame and round bracket are
still up there. I thought of trying to take the can part of the
fixture out and put the airtite remodel version up there, but I don't
know if it will fit through the frame. Anyone have experience with
this?

Also, I see they make an airtite Eyeball kit, the 78PAT (for almost 30
bucks!) which has a gasket around it... perhaps using this airtite
eyeball to replace the existing non airtite eyeballs will help the
situation?

While I would love to get insulation up there around the cans, I will
be happy with just stopping the air loss. 30 cans times 3-4 CFM of air
movement is causing doors to move on their own.

Can ANYONE offer suggestions, or, preferably, EXPERIENCE stories on
what to do in this situation?

Thanks much!

If the ceiling is flat, you can use the 30 wat or 30 pat trims which are
airtite. They are supposed to be used with the ic housing, but if the
insulation is not around the frames, I don't see that it would matter.
They're still gasketed and airtite. If you need eyeballs, the number you
mention should work. With these airtites, you pull the bracket out of the
fixture and mount the socket right to the trim. The trims are secured by
expanding wire clips that fit into those little side pieces which may have
been pushed in to accommodate the trims you have now
"WM" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am officially at the begging stage... Here's my story:

Bought a house with 30 Halo 6" recessed cans, H7's. Cathedral ceilings
throughout the house. I can not get "behind" any of these fixtures.
The cans are original installs, which means they are not the retrofit
models... they have a large frame around the cans. They are NOT
air-tite, and are NOT insulation contact rated. They are,
unfortunately, the cheapest Halo 6" recessed cans the electrician could
have installed 12 years ago. When you put your hand near these things
you feel WIND... not air movement.... WIND. There is insulation in the
roof, just not near the cans.

I NEED TO STOP THIS AIR FLOW! but, I have no desire (read: wife says
no) to rip out the sheetrock and original H7 fixtures and rebuild my
entire ceiling. Plus, its too expensive.

SO, what can I do? I know they make Insulation contact rated remodel
fixtures, but I can't get the original fixture out of the ceiling. I
can remove the can itself though, but the frame and round bracket are
still up there. I thought of trying to take the can part of the
fixture out and put the airtite remodel version up there, but I don't
know if it will fit through the frame. Anyone have experience with
this?

Also, I see they make an airtite Eyeball kit, the 78PAT (for almost 30
bucks!) which has a gasket around it... perhaps using this airtite
eyeball to replace the existing non airtite eyeballs will help the
situation?

While I would love to get insulation up there around the cans, I will
be happy with just stopping the air loss. 30 cans times 3-4 CFM of air
movement is causing doors to move on their own.

Can ANYONE offer suggestions, or, preferably, EXPERIENCE stories on
what to do in this situation?

Thanks much!

Yeah, I think that's what happened here... if you do the math, I am
losing more heat through these lights than by leaving a door open.

I just went to the electrical supply house, they special ordered 26
78PAT trim kits for me. Should take a few weeks to get them in.
Hopefully, I will be able to get them all in by mid-January.