I'm a bit confused.
I have multiple recessed lighting cans in my house, installed before I moved in.  Some are newer IC rated but the main set in the kitchen are clearly not (have an aluminum chimney of sorts to keep them clear of the insulation).

I have been wanting to seal these but before I did I also wanted to go from CFL (which are too slow to warm up to full brightness in my application) to LED and would like to go CREE LR4 or LR6.  I do have 10 Tenamat recessed light covers and a foam gun, so I am all set to seal these buggers up good and tight, but I wanted to make certain it wasn't best to just remove the existing non-IC rated cans and swtich to the CREE specific retrofit can lights first.

If I use my old cans, will the LR4 just fit in there? The diameter of the cans is just shy of 5 inches. It would be a lot cheaper to just go retrofit w/ existing non-IC cans as I already have a great solution for making them 'IC' and tightly air sealed with the Tenamats.

Thanks,
Chris

SFAIK the LR4 only comes in a 2-pin GU-24 base, and is not retrofit-able into Edison-base incandescent fixtures.

With the LR6 you have both GU-24 and Edison base versions but the heat sink on the LR6 can interfere mechanically when retrofitted into some fixtures (probably fits most though.)

The 10.5W CR6 is less bulky, less money, and only ~10% less light than the 12W Edison base LR6, and has fewer fit issues.

If you have easy access for installing & sealing them from above the Tenmat covers would be fine for the cans where you'd be installing LR6s.

Posted By Dana1 on 08 Sep 2011 02:39 PM
SFAIK the LR4 only comes in a 2-pin GU-24 base, and is not retrofit-able into Edison-base incandescent fixtures.

With the LR6 you have both GU-24 and Edison base versions but the heat sink on the LR6 can interfere mechanically when retrofitted into some fixtures (probably fits most though.)

The 10.5W CR6 is less bulky, less money, and only ~10% less light than the 12W Edison base LR6, and has fewer fit issues.

If you have easy access for installing & sealing them from above the Tenmat covers would be fine for the cans where you'd be installing LR6s.

Yes but many of the resellers of the LR4 are selling it with a GU24 adapter that you just splice into the Edison base's wires and thus retrofit the GU24 as well...

Good to know about the GU-24 adaptors for retrofit- I'd never looked into it that far!

BTW: Cruising the aisles of the local orange-flavored box store last night they had stacks of CR6s for $35/per. I've heard of one of the club-store chains carrying the LR6 for similar money in some locations, but I've not seen it. Internet pricing on the LR6 tends to be substantially more.

Just an FYI, I made the switch. The airtite/IC cans I had in the bedroom were pretty well installed, so I pulled the inserts out and put up 6 CR6s...Awesome! Their ability to cleanly dim down to 5% are perfect for that room. I then took a close look at the cans in the kitchen. 5 inch give or take, huge gaps between the holes in the ceiling and the edge of the cans....Awful 1970s technology. So I went out, bought a bunch of 6" IC/Airtite cans to do a retrofit. Amazing what I found. The amount of discolored insulation surrounding these things and when you pulled the bulbs the amount of air flowing through them, even without the heat of a bulb forcing the chimney effect! Retrofitted all the cans, secured them, placed tenamats over the top and foamed them down. They look great with the consistent dimmable light and I have a significant improvement in air infiltration! Yay!