GU10 stuck bulb/ lifting carpet and re-laying

Wig

Hi, I have a few questions/observations for discussion on this subject.

I am in process of replacing all the halogens for LED.
What can I do with the working halogen bulbs that I have ?

In the kitchen, the design of the downlighters used, the bulbs are housed in an upside down plastic cup, with the bulb holder dangling inside, fed by blue and brown wires, these wires come in from a hole in the top of the cup. These ones in the kiitchen have been more difficult to change than the rest of the house, where they just screw in and out (the bulb holder held in place on a fixed bracket.).
Some of the kitchen bulbs needed persuading with fingernails before they would drop down enough for me to put two fingertips on the bulb holder enabling me to stop it from turning whilst I screw out the bulb and put in the new bulb. The final bulb in the kitchen has been a pain, did not come down at all, I used a knife blade to get it down about 8mm, but it is stil not out enough to hold the bulb holder still, I have tried with my knife point to hold the bulb holder but to no avail.

I now have 2 options as I see it,
A) continue to pull the bulb down bit by bit until there is enough room to hold the bulb holder.

lift the carpet in the bedroom and lift up the floor boards and do it properly.

The carpet in the bedroom is nice and tight to the skirting boards, and I am concerned I will not be able to re-lay it as nice as it looks now. Am I right?. The bulb in the kitchen is the one in the corner of the room , so I only need to lift the corner of the carpet upstairs but even so I would need to peel it back either about 4 - 6 feet from the corner, or alternatively one whole edge of the carpet peeled back by about 3 feet.

I also have another problem. Not knowing the design of these downlighters, I pulled on the metal surround to see if the whole plastic cup would slide out from within the ceiling. It moved down about 3mm but the sprang back into place and an audible metal spring sound could be heard. When I checked in B&Q how these things are designed, I can see they have two sprung arms either side.

My one is now slightly loose from the ceiling about 3 mm. and I am wondering the best way to fix this. So if I remove the floorboards upstairs this would enable me to fix it. but if I don't do this I am thinking maybe I can fix it by turning the metal face so the springs turn onto an undamaged bit of plaster board?

Another thing I noticed in B&Q that all these downlighters have fire proof sleeving over the blue and brown wires. All the ones in my house do not have fireproof sleeving... should I be concerend?

And on one of them upstairs when I removed the bulb I could see with my torch that a grey-plastic two core cable was traversing across the top of the bulb and the bulb had burned the grey plastic to black but was not burned right through. I went in the attic and moved the 2 core away from the bulb, and I will splice a new bit of cable into that.

I know halogen GU10 get very hot... but I am wondering how hot do the LED ones get?

What is the usual method of installing and removing (for maintenance) these downlighter fixings (i.e. not just the bulbs)?
IS it usually done from underneath i.e. in the kitchen... how?
or is it always to be done from above prior to installing the floorboards and by lifting the floorboards for maintenance.?

Anyway, if you can help me with my stuck bulb problem and or my concerns about re-laying they carpet.. thank you.

andyhop

Remove the fitting from the ceiling by pulling the fitting down wards . It will be fitted with spring clips

There should be enough flex on the bulb holder to pull through the fitting , use long nose pliers to gently pull through

Wig

Thanks Andy, I'll check in B&Q again to see the folding springs.
So the springs will fold upwards when pulled down from below.?

How do you fit it back again with the springs in the way?

blackshirtuk

Your lights will be something similar to below



to replace them just hold the long part of the clip close to the body of the light, as you push up the lower part of the clip will catch on the ceiling plasterboard forcing the upper part of the clip to hold the light.

brightontraveller

Your problem ones as you’ve not mentioned removing retaining spring etc then it is most likely yours are fixed lamp holder (if they weren't then they would dangle down all the time ?)
For fixed lampholder use a suction cup that's what there designed for never had a lamp i couldn't get out with one....

http://www.screwfix.com/p/wolfcraft-wfc-5499000-gu10-lamp-removal-tool/6084K?kpid=6084K&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&gclid=CIy99Nz7ltECFQ-3GwodgdoCVQ

https://www.wholesaleledlights.co.uk/gu10-and-mr16-removal-suction-cup.html?infinity=ict2~net~gaw~ar~138845012573~kw~~mt~~cmp~PLA%20-%20LED%20Spotlights&gclid=CJi499L7ltECFQ4R0wod9skBNQ

Some also use friction balls

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/331990646497?lpid=122&chn=ps&adgroupid=33676502101&rlsatarget=pla-271883369915&adtype=pla&poi=&googleloc=1006770&device=c&campaignid=707291931&crdt=0

both above simple push up and twist

Many fireproof lights which yours sound like the lamp holder is fixed to the top
you'd need to establish if yours are before wasting you time taking it down ( unless you want to change the entire fitting) if you do get fireproof e.g
https://www.simplelighting.co.uk/fire-rated-downlight-gu10-fixed-white-finish/?gclid=CMfwj-j-ltECFcsp0wodGsAAIw#fo_c=1144&fo_k=c0201e515cf251bc1544f4f85ee71b80&fo_s=gplauk


For the loose lights you can either change the position of the spring in the light some have them for one, or two board thickness move light fitting around but its normally easier to just bend the spring clip enough to compensate the drop

The above are just to show what items look like,