Recessed Lights Suck – A Love/Hate Relationship

High hats, can lights, recessed lights, pot lights, there are a lot of words for the same thing.

Demystifying Jargon: Recessed lights are lights that poke up into your ceiling, rather than hanging below it.

Whatever you call them, they have one thing in common.

They all SUCK!

Or blow, technically. Depending on whether the heat is pushing in or out of the house. (Here’s a little levity/illustration from Spaceballs. 1:00, pardon the French someone inserted.)

Recessed lights leak like sieves. One 1960’s house we did in Shaker Heights had about 1/2 its air leakage in 20 of them.

That was about 2500 cfm50, which means nothing to you, but that is about how much a 2500 square foot new home should leak according to BPI standards. We double checked our numbers, we were so surprised.

And 20 lights leaked that much. Yow! Those things were costing that homeowner HUNDREDS per year! On top of the electricity to run the lights!

So why do I love them? Well, frankly, they are something to fix and so I earn money fixing them.

Why do I hate them? They cost you money! Twice! No three times!

1. 1. Air leakage = more heating and cooling costs
2. 2. Light bulbs & electricity to run them
3. 3. Paying Energy Smart or someone else to seal them

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