How To Tell If Recessed Lighting Is IC Rated

Recessed light fixtures are often a significant part of interior design. Home inspectors and electricians recommend that all recessed light fixtures carry an IC or IC-AT rating. Without paying someone to come to look at your lights, how do you tell if recessed lighting is IC rated?

Turn off the power to your recessed lighting fixture and remove the trim ring and bulb. Inspect the inside of the lighting fixture and look for a manufacturer’s label. Read the label and look for “IC” or “IC-AT” near the model number to indicate that it is IC rated.

There are several reasons to make this check for IC-rated light fixtures.

IC Rated simply stands for “insulation contact” rated. If a recessed lighting fixture, or downlight, has been given an ‘IC’ rating, this means that the product has been deemed suitable to be covered with building insulation. In other words, the fixture can come into contact with insulation, which is not the case with most recessed lights.

This means that lights that are labeled non-IC rated cannot come into contact with insulation. Your home most likely (and it should) has insulation in the roof, which is in place to improve energy efficiency, regulate temperature, and reduce your heating/cooling expenses. Though, the drawback to insulation is that it can be flammable and installing electrical appliances or lighting near insulation can present a fire hazard.

Ceiling downlights, especially those with halogen bulbs, can reach incredibly high temperatures to produce light. In fact, halogens can reach temperatures higher than 570 degrees Fahrenheit, or 300 degrees Celsius. This obviously creates a very dangerous situation when placed near ceiling insulation and why IC rated lighting fixtures are so beneficial.

Older fixtures that don’t carry and IC or IC-AT rating have several disadvantages. The old style of a recessed fixture with no rating was unsafe if insulation came into contact with the fixture. Installers were warned in the instructions not to allow insulation to cover these fixtures.

These old fixtures had holes in the housing and depended on air circulation through the housing to keep the light fixture cool. Anything blocking this air movement risked overheating the light fixture.

These fixtures also acted as mini-chimneys. The cooling action sucked the air from the interior into the attic, making them extremely inefficient. During winter, the warm flowing into the attic could create ice damming and condensation problems in the attic

Never attempt to work on a light fixture or any other part of your home electrical system while energized. Messing around with live electricity is an invitation to injury or worse. Locate the breaker that serves the circuit and flip it to the off position.

The easiest way to make sure that you have flipped the right breaker is to turn on the lights and then turn off the breaker. If the lights go out, it is a good sign you have the right breaker. With the breaker off, you can safely work with the recessed light fixture.

For more information about your homes electrical system and maintenance, check out this article.

You can buy or build a box that will fit over your recessed light fixture in the attic and keep the insulation from contacting the fixture. Most of the available boxes are built from a polycarbonate sheet material that has a foil facing.

You can buy this material and construct your boxes if you so choose. The easiest method is to cut the polycarbonate material to size and use adhesive-backed foil tape to put the pieces together.

To install the box, move the insulation away from the light fixture. The box must sit tightly on the ceiling surface below. Seal the box to the ceiling surface with adhesive-backed aluminum tape. When the box is secure, move the insulation back around and over the box

Related Questions

Are all recessed lighting fixtures IC rated?

Not all recessed lights are IC rated, which makes determining whether or not a fixture is IC rated very important. One tell-tale distinction is if the can has slits or holes in it, the fixture is not IC rated. Try to locate an Underwriters Laboratory sticker on the light, with the letters “IC” to indicate that the fixture is IC rated.

Do downlights need to be fire rated?

For you, your family, and your home’s protection, it is highly advised that all the downlights you install are fire rated. These lights help to slow the spread of fire in a home and give occupants more time to escape safely.