The Home Ownership Thread

[brokencycle]

Trying to avoid integrated led on our fixtures. Don't want to try and get a replacement for a unique shape 6 years from now from a company that may barely exist by then. Its a shame too, we really love the one integrated led piece we installed (Sean Lavin).

I try to avoid it whenever possible, but there are some cool modern shapes you can do that require integrated. But there are a lot of options that come either integrated lights or bulbs, and it makes no sense to me to get integrated (e.g. Flos Arco).

The other trend driving it, particularly if you're looking for high thermal efficiency is to eliminate the recessed lights and do slim recessed that don't have the whole housing (allows you to get more insulation). We did some of these slim recessed lights and a couple failed, then when I replaced them with identical part numbers, the colors and dimming range didn't match, so I had to replace all of them. Very annoying.

 

[Gibonius]

I know, I hate it.


And I am 100% that person that will be annoyed if the color temperature is slightly off or the trim ring on the replacement is a slightly different shape than the trim ring on the original.

I do appreciate that LEDs have allowed a lot of cool lamp designs that weren't possible with traditional bulbs, but I can't stomach all these fixtures that will be garbage down the road--especially for basic lighting where bulbs do just fine.

Maybe the answer is to come up with some new modular system...some way to replace LED modules as they burn out. Have a couple different standard shapes/sizes (similar to current bulbs) that solve the cooling/orientation/power issues of current LED bulbs but still allow user replacement easy enough a child could do it.

Although I question myself every time I look at the boob lights that came with my new house and want to just rip them all out for some low-profile integrated fixtures as a placeholder....maybe the disposable fixture is OK for that.

So many ceiling fans have integrated LEDs. Like, I gotta replace a whole ass ceiling fan if the LED fails? Not for me, thanks.

 

[brokencycle]

So many ceiling fans have integrated LEDs. Like, I gotta replace a whole ass ceiling fan if the LED fails? Not for me, thanks.

I try to avoid them too, but I will say that nicer fans like Minka Aire, the light is an add-on, so you could just replace the light part.

 

[UnFacconable]

I have like 50+ integrated LED cans that are ~2 years old and have already had several failures. In one circuit alone, 6 out of 8 failed basically at the same time. At least a dozen of the cans are 20+ feet high and going to be a major bear to deal with (along with smoke alarms) but I guess high ceilings are a first world problem. The nice thing is that I only really need to stock the one type of replacement but it sure would be great if they weren't less reliable than incandescents.

I'm not sure if this is like a Gilette razor blade situation (the cans are like ~$20 each and pretty easy to plug and play) where I should just buy 100 of them or if I bite the bullet and replace with much better cans that have some form of standard socketed bulbs.

 

[jbarwick]

The LED failure rate is wild. Maybe it is recency bias but I feel like I am changing bulbs quite often in the ones where I can vs. older bulbs.

 

[Fueco]

The LED failure rate is wild. Maybe it is recency bias but I feel like I am changing bulbs quite often in the ones where I can vs. older bulbs.

It definitely feels that way.

 

[nootje]

not seeing the same problem on my end. The only failures i've had where the outdoor build in fixtures that Philips just designed badly (water pooled in the bottom over time and eventually reached the electronics) , and the dozen or so my todler destroyed by playing with the lightswitch. Interestingly it only killed the smart part, not the LED itself, so it still functioned.

Next place will for sure see a whole Philips Hue integration as well.

 

[Old Red]

Three years ago I replaced the cans around the house, a couple dozen at least, with IC-rated cans as I knew from the ice dams we were losing a significant amount of heat through the ceiling. I put LED's in all of them and am happy to say we've had no failure with any. I did store away a half dozen units just in case. Before the winter following installation we opted to have more cellulose blown in to the attic so I don't know how much of a difference the better cans made. Between both improvements I have not had to pick up a roof rake even once.

 

[losrockets]

So many ceiling fans have integrated LEDs. Like, I gotta replace a whole ass ceiling fan if the LED fails? Not for me, thanks.

We replaced our ceiling fans recently and they all had integrated light kits. Fortunately they were mostly < $500 and from brands like Fanimation/WAC/Hunter that have been in the space for a while, with available replacement kits. Still sucks that I can't just get on a ladder and swap the warmth, color, or dead bulb on a whim. Our last fans had replaceable bulbs but they were a) slow and b) AC.

When we moved into our house the ceiling lights were all super hot outdoor halogen bulbs (I think halogen? not LED/CFL) so the quick and easy solution was replacing them with ~50 integrated LEDs. Some have failed already and fortunately we had backups. Now as we take a closer look at the design of our home, we're slowly replacing a lot of these with semi-flush mounts and pendants, or thinking of relocating some to serve more of a function than just evenly lighting up the room in all 4 corners (e.g. 4 smaller housings along a back wall, wall-washes, focused lighting on artwork). I've noticed that these cheap retrofit LEDs actually have dust/dirt pluming out around their housings onto the ceilings in several locations. I was worried at first this could be something worse but was assured by the electrician that's all it was.

 

[otc]

The LED failure rate is wild. Maybe it is recency bias but I feel like I am changing bulbs quite often in the ones where I can vs. older bulbs.

Heat kills them. The video I posted talks about why the old bulb design worked well for incandescent lights but is actually pretty terrible for LEDs since it forces them to cram the parts together and they use a lot of plastic housings/plastic globes that suck at dissipating heat.

I never thought about this, but they actually say the "Edison" style ones are often better for this because they use real glass, fill with some kind of gas that does a good job moving heat, and the lighting elements are removed from all the other LED circuitry. This is why sometimes you get "normal" bulbs that are just the edison bulbs with frosted glass.

Certain types of enclosed fixtures can be especially hard on LEDs, especially cheap ones because they get extra hot. Ceiling cans aren't great either, especially if they are insulated over...the heat just rises up into the circuitry and has nowhere to go.

So some of these integrated lights really are better at managing heat and should have longer lifespans...but even if the control circuits survive, there's no way to save them when the diodes themselves stop outputting enough light after 5-10 years.

 

[otc]

My gutters are all problematic. On the "low" sides, they have gaps between the roof's drip edge and the gutter that allows water to drip behind the gutter and wet the fascia boards.

I fixed one last weekend by cutting a long sheet of flashing and tucking it under the drip edge but above the gutter (basically creating an extended drip edge). That same thing had already been done for the first 10' of the gutter, but the gap extended another 15' or so.

It is raining today and my fix seems to be working...except now I can tell that I need to do the same thing in at least 2 other spots.

Other than the spot I fixed where the boards are notably swelled, the fascia boards in the other areas seem mostly OK. So this can't have been a problem since the house was built. Wonder if the last roofers removed the gutters but didn't know how to put them back on properly and just hung them too low or with too much slant?

 

[double00]

My gutters are all problematic. On the "low" sides, they have gaps between the roof's drip edge and the gutter that allows water to drip behind the gutter and wet the fascia boards.

I fixed one last weekend by cutting a long sheet of flashing and tucking it under the drip edge but above the gutter (basically creating an extended drip edge). That same thing had already been done for the first 10' of the gutter, but the gap extended another 15' or so.

It is raining today and my fix seems to be working...except now I can tell that I need to do the same thing in at least 2 other spots.

Other than the spot I fixed where the boards are notably swelled, the fascia boards in the other areas seem mostly OK. So this can't have been a problem since the house was built. Wonder if the last roofers removed the gutters but didn't know how to put them back on properly and just hung them too low or with too much slant?

idk how old your house is but the fascia boards may well have been replaced , gutter installers do this routinely .

at our place the gutters are attached to the fascia but i've also seen them bracketed a bit below the roof .

if your roof shingles don't quite cover the top of the fascia and you get a clog in the downspout rainwater can fill the gutter and get behind the fascia that way ( iirc we've had that happen with the occasional snow we get locally . in that case i'm not sure if add'l flashing is a help or hindrance as I think water could be held longer if it does get back there . are you caulking the new flashing ?

 

[Piobaire]

You need software for lights

I guess you're unfamiliar with backyard automation?

I can't deal with you phucking plebs some days.

 

[otc]

idk how old your house is but the fascia boards may well have been replaced , gutter installers do this routinely .

at our place the gutters are attached to the fascia but i've also seen them bracketed a bit below the roof .

if your roof shingles don't quite cover the top of the fascia and you get a clog in the downspout rainwater can fill the gutter and get behind the fascia that way ( iirc we've had that happen with the occasional snow we get locally . in that case i'm not sure if add'l flashing is a help or hindrance as I think water could be held longer if it does get back there . are you caulking the new flashing ?

Nah there’s a visible wide gap between drip edge gutter. The gutters are running clean.

Basically just doing this: