Hi
Our new home has about 30 halogen downlights in the living room, dinning room, kitchen, hallway. Now I had no idea about dowlights and halogen until I read about it recently and from my understanding they are terrible for electricity consumption ( happy to be corrected as wrong ) and can pose a serious fire risk if not installed with the saftey cap thing in the roof to stop heating and fires.
Sooooo.......... the cost of the roof cap thing ( I know great technical term ) is about 20 per light, plus labour cost, now I am still worried about fire even after that, and on top of that I am now worried about electricity costs.
Would It be feasible to replace these lights and get the following normal lights installed - 2 ceilling lights in living room, 2 in dinning room, 1 in hallway and one in kitchen. plain old fashioned lights with energy saving bulbs.
Anyrough ballpark idea of costs to get an electician to wire and install this up in a 10 year old house? I would have to cover up the holes of the downlights with somehthing as well. any options?
I would really love some ideas, tips, suggestions waht I can do, the saftey of halogen (fire risk) is scarying me, the cost of electricity is a worry, which is a pity they look is great, but with electricity predicted to increase so much it seems silly to keep using so many lightbulbs. we plan to stay in this house a long time, so happy to invest to get the right choices and be safe and energy smart..... sigh... I had no idea lighting could be so stressful
Please help, rough costs appreciated, one stressed and frassled newbie