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The Bathroom – Better Living Through LED Lighting

Posted by Mark Atkinson on 15th Jul 2016

TapsFor some, it’s a haven of peace and tranquillity; an oasis of calm amidst a sea of chaos. While for others it’s simply a place to take a quick shower and clean one’s teeth.

Whatever it means to you, you have to admit that you wouldn’t get very far in the bathroom without adequate lighting. In fact, the results could actually be quite painful if it isn’t bright, energy-saving LED lighting!

The Bathroom

We use it every day of the week, but do we ever really stop and think about the lighting that’s in there; what it is, or what it could be?

We can often take it for granted that the light in the bathroom will come on when we pull the cord or flick the switch, but if it’s a traditional source of illumination like a fluorescent or incandescent bulb and not an LED Light, are you aware of what you’re missing out on?

LED bulbs light up the instant they’re switched on, so there’s none of the blink, blink, blinking we’ve become used to with fluorescents. LEDs are also wonderfully versatile too, the vast majority being perfect like-for-like replacements for your existing bulbs.

LED Downlights

Many people are now installing LED ceiling lights around their homes, and the bathroom is the ideal location for them. This is a natural consequence of the increased popularity of drop or suspended ceilings and, as such, you’ll be able to fit any number of appropriately protected ceiling lights.

Eminently suitable for installation in your bathroom are any of the LED ceiling lights with an IP65 (Ingress Protection) Rating. The two numerical digits of any IP-rating refer to the level of protection with which your enclosure is endowed. The ‘6’ denotes that your ceiling light is fully defended against intrusion from foreign bodies such as dust and dirt. The second, in this case, the ‘5’, means it won’t let in any water, even low pressure jets from any direction.

Thus, you’ll want to go for one of the Cree downlights, all of which are Fire-Rated. Fire-Rated products are rapidly becoming the industry standard in renovations and new-build properties, as they effectively redress the imbalance caused when a suspended ceiling is cut. Such protection will allow you and your family an essential extra 90 minutes of protection, should the unthinkable ever occur.

The Cree downlights are available, like all types of LED ceiling light, in a choice of finishes. In this type of fitting, they include black, white, polished and satin chrome, so you’ll definitely find one to match your bathroom décor.

There are several advantages to choosing a fitting like this as a direct replacement for your existing halogen recessed ceiling light. One of these is the convenience of simply popping the all-in-one unit into the hole in your ceiling and fastening it in place with the butterfly clips.  The other is due to the incredibly long life-expectancy of the integral LED which, at 50,000 hours or 17.12 years, will outlast any type of conventional bulb many times over.

LED Shower Lights

Should your recess space be limited, there are Short Can LED Shower Lights that will fit snugly into a smaller gap. These too are fire-rated, and will require a GU10 LED Bulb to complete them. With a similarly high IP-rating to the aforementioned CREE units, they’re also available in a variety of finishes, and their exceptional energy-efficiency will simply astound you.

Available in a choice of colour temperatures, including warm white (3000K), daylight white (4000K) and cool white (6000K), GU10 LED bulbs will enable you to tailor the ambience of your bathroom, imbuing it with a light quality that reflects your taste.

As with all LED bulbs, GU10s are 90% more frugal energy-wise than the halogens they’re designed to replace. When you’ve chosen exactly the right number of LED downlights to illuminate your bathroom, you’ll only then begin to appreciate just how much money you’ll save on your electricity bill simply by switching to this form of lighting.

For example, if your bath/shower room is of fairly average size, you may wish to install five Satin Chrome GU10 Shower Lights.

The 5 x GU10 80 SMD LED Bulbs you may have opted for each require only 3.3 watts of electricity to produce 400 lumens of brightness, the equivalent of a 50 watt traditional bulb.

Thus, assuming an electricity cost of 13.75 pence per kW/h and a usage of 8 hours a day, you’ll stand to save an enormous £93.76 over the course of a year.

When you’ve installed long-lasting, energy-efficient LED lighting in your bathroom, you will seriously never look back, so if you’d like to talk to the experts, don’t hesitate to call one of our customer service advisors today on 0116 321 4120.

To check out the entire range of LED lighting products we have on offer, go to our LED lights online store.

You can also send us an e-mail enquiry to cs@wled.co.uk.

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