Insulating over ceiling can lights?

[Patches]

Having fun in the attic yesterday. Most rooms in my house have those recessed can lights in the ceiling. In the attic, about half have a bat of fiberglass insulation thrown over them, and half don't.

So either half are fire hazards, or half are leaking heat like sieves. Any idea which is the case?

[mcsquared]

Can lights are either rated for insulation contact or they aren't. They say so right on the housing.

[Patches]

Thanks, should have figured that out... but its dark up there.

[cbrpaul]

Insulation contractors often use a chicken-wire cover over the can lights to provide an inch or two of air space between the insulation and the can

[jfost]

x2 on the chicken wire, plus some foil backed 1'x1' insulation squares over the cans (neglible heat reflection back into room?)

I'm not a contractor, this is what I found in our townhouse (2003 built) looks like cbrpaul was right!

[FattyCBR]

They should say IC or non-IC inside them when you pull out the trim piece. Safest way to insulate is build a plywood box with 5 sides and place it over the light and lay the insulation over that. Check your local codes for the minimum size of the box, normally it's 3-inches per side and top.

[TWINS]

This will take care of the leakage.
http://www.arcadianlighting.com/ntm-713.html
I have been installing these trims for about 2 years now.Non I.C. cans need to have a 3 inch air gap.I rarely see this to be so in the houses I work in.The insulation is laying on top of the fixtures most times.

[splat]

Energy efficient bulbs can negate a lot of heat transfer.
They're efficient because they put out equivalent light without the heat, which is energy, measured in watts.

[jm2e]

/\ /\ /\ x2

Thread hijack, but when your lights aren't giving you the brightness in a room, you can safely get much higher Watt equivalent CFL bulbs in your existing fixtures without risking overloading. Now a lamp that says max 60 watt can have 100watt equivalent and brighten the hell out of the place without burning it down.

[Patches]

Thanks TWINS, that's a really easy solution if my lights aren't rated for direct contact.

FWIW I have CFLs most everywhere.

[Patches]

So... those cones aren't big enough. My cans are non-IC, and are 6.5" in diameter and 7.5" high. TWINS, do you know of someone who make premade baffles that are big enough? I'm coming up with a goose egg on google. Well, tons of results but not what I want.

[Patches]

Or I could buy new IC cans for $12.50 each, sounds like a better idea...