Lighting The Brick Freestanding Fireplace

The house that we're getting ready to move into has a working, brick veneered, freestanding fireplace in a room with a cathedral ceiling. There is a ceiling fan in the center of the room, and midway between the ceiling fan and the fireplace are three really ugly, 25-year-old white track lights that can be directed at the fireplace.

I'm going with a brushed pewter/mahogany color palette. No white.

My first thought was to replace the track lighting with some smaller, updated stainless steel or pewter colored lights on bendable track, but these don't seem to come in anything but halogen, and I wouldn't have a halogen light in my house for love nor money. I prefer a medium base fixture so I can put in my favorite natural daylight fluorescent bulbs that I found online.

So my next thought was that a pair of wall sconces on the front of the fireplace would be perfect (I can use my favorite fluorescent bulbs), but the fireplace is completely sheathed in brick and is free standing. The mantle is currently just a small shelf with no sides or room to place any table lamps. (This really has to be changed out as soon as we can afford it!)

Wouldn't it be dangerous to run electrical wire down between the brick veneer and the metal? There nothing on the outside of the fireplace to hide the wiring in. Or am I worrying about nothing? My husband says that since the brick only extends to the ceiling and not beyond, it would be easy to run the wire inside the brick veneer, but he doesn't know if this should be done, either. We had to replace the wooden chimney, and the whole thing appears to be metal lined all the way down, but that's all we know about it.

Please advise.

Regards,
Sharon

Can't you filter a spotlight, be it halogen or not, and get the particular color of illumination you seek?

Can't you filter a spotlight, be it halogen or not, and get the particular color of illumination you seek?

Click to expand...

My issue is one of economics and safety. Halogens are supposed to save 20% energy over incandescents, but they run so hot that the heat offset during the summer cooling means that they actually use up much more energy than incandescents. And I saw how badly the heat burned and cracked the glass on the only halogen desklamp I've ever owned, and I burned my hand on the darn thing adjusting the light. The whole darn thing was hot! Halogens are a fire hazard. Those things are UNSAFE and energy hogs.

We changed out all our light bulbs to spiral CFLs at one time 6 years ago and knocked our electrical bill down at least a third in the summer in the house we currently live in. That's not only because it takes so much less energy to get the light, but because fluorescents run so cool that our HVAC didn't work so hard. They saved what they cost to buy them the first year we ran them.

The fluorescents I found online cost about three to four times as much as the cheap ones at Lowe's or Home Depot, but I've not had a single one burn out in 6 years (unlike the cheapies of which more than half have failed). The good ones turn on instantly and have no flicker - ever!. The blue light is unmistakably easier on the eyes and seems to help significantly with winter depression.

Sorry for the rant, but I'm just mad that the industry and government is actually causing us to waste more energy for inferior light by limiting ceiling fans to candelabra base lights and phasing out incandescents in favor of halogens, when quality fluorescents aren't yet available for anything but a medium base fixture. So we have to use more floor lamps, table lamps, wall fixtures and whatever we can get our hands on just to keep from living in a cave. It's just like the 1.6 gallon toilet - you can only use 1.6 gallons at a time, but you have to flush it three times to get it to go down! (Oh, alright, except for my Toto Ultramax.)

I don't know if you've ever seen any of the This-Old-House-type shows dealing with tall interior spaces, but they might give you some ideas. Old track lighting is just that. Old. Modern halogens would be a different animal. At some point, LED lights will be an option.

The difference between wall sconses and spot-lighting is so vast, I would ask you to clarify. Leaving the brick veneer alone should be a priority. Why disturb what you don't have to?

Understand that small halogen spots are different than the bulb that runs so hot in the desk lamp you remember.

Does the fan have a light fixture attached? If not, that could be a place for those CFs you like.

Does the fan have a light fixture attached? If not, that could be a place for those CFs you like.

Click to expand...

Just bought and installed the ceiling fan, and it has what I've been told is the "new standard" for fan light fixtures, which is two candelabra base A15 bulbs, which come in not more than 60 watts. Since the thing is unfortunately dimmable, CFLs won't work in it. (Since the thing has a remote, I can't use the rheostat on the wall, either. Sure looks cool, up there in the gloom, though, and it does run quiet.) I was told that they're going to this new standard because people were overloading the standard bases with too much wattage and causing fires. (Upon reflection, I don't know if "they" are the manufacturer or the regulators.)

Basically, we're just trying to light our cave, and don't have a clue how to do it. (Somehow, no matter how hard I've tried, I'm the world's worst decorator, and I have never understood how to achieve a comfortable space. However, in my defense, having virtually no money to decorate with does tend to cramp the style a bit.) Replacing the fan with the 4 (100 watt?) lights with a fan having only 120 watts was really dumb on retrospect, except that the old fan was shot. I guess the $119 fan on sale for $44.25 wasn't such a bargain after all. Maybe there was a reason nobody else was dumb enough to buy the things. (Yes, I got two more just so that something would coordinate).

You may be right, I didn't know about LEDs. Evidently they have some that you can use as a replacement in halogen monorail fixtures?

And your point about the brick is a good one, too. It's real hard to undrill a hole in brick. I had considered putting pilasters down the front or on the corners, solely provide a place to run the wiring, but that's a bigger project than we have time to tackle right now.

Please explain further about the small halogen spots. How do you mean that they are different? Do they run cooler? Or are they simply up out of the way so you can't easily burn yourself on them?

smhowell said:

Wouldn't it be dangerous to run electrical wire down between the brick veneer and the metal? There nothing on the outside of the fireplace to hide the wiring in. Or am I worrying about nothing? My husband says that since the brick only extends to the ceiling and not beyond, it would be easy to run the wire inside the brick veneer, but he doesn't know if this should be done, either. We had to replace the wooden chimney, and the whole thing appears to be metal lined all the way down, but that's all we know about it. Regards, Sharon

Click to expand...

It is not possible to tell from your description if the space between the brick veneer and the metal is exposed to serious heat when the fireplace is operated. If the area is heated by the fireplace then the insulation could be damaged and cause a short circuit.

If the space is hot there are insulation materials that can be used up to about 480 F. You might be able to install that kind of wire in a small flexible metal conduit as is sometimes used to connect light fixtures above suspended ceilings. TFE (Teflon insulated) wire is rated to 480 F.

You can get metallic spray paint that converts old white track lights to pewter or whatever you want at the distance of a cathedral ceiling.

There are also some reflector CFLs, including at least one dimmable bulb.
http://www.energyfederation.org/estarlights/default.php/cPath/2107

http://www.efi.org/info/r-cfl_factsheet.pdf

Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate the help!

Sharon

I don't know why you couldn't find an older fan/light combo and use CFs in it. The halogen spots I saw in a TOH show were located on beams (post and beam construction) and were running on 12 volts. Their high location allowed for choosing an appropriate degree of light spread and wattage, and since there were a number of spots, none of the bulbs were real hotties. Probably a nuisance when it finally came to changing bulbs, and by then, the TOH guys are long gone.

The best way to light a brick fireplace is to come straight down on it creating shadows and giving dimension to it. Try it with a hand held lamp/bulb held a few inches off the wall at the top of the fireplace and you can see the dramatic difference from lighting it from a couple/few feet out.

Recessed cans would do the trick. Trims would depend on the pitch of the vaulted ceiling.

Getting wiring into the face of the brick would be a serious challange. Getting them from the existing track to cans, not so much.