On the bright side – shine a light on your work site this Winter

There are lots of things to love about Winter – but let’s be honest, the darkness is generally not one of them. There’s a lot of science behind the reasons why so many of us find the darkness so grim (in short, humans are daylight creatures), but from a purely practical perspective, darkness can create major safety hazards during the course of the general workday. With that in mind, it’s no wonder why our Site Lighting Hire services become so popular over the Winter period!

We take care to offer plenty of options for you to choose from here at Smiths Hire, and we know that sometimes it can be no easy task to choose the right kind of portable lighting for your specific needs. So to help you out, here are four of the biggest considerations it’s worth thinking about when making that decision!

How much coverage and brightness will you need?

First off, you’ll want to start by calculating the size of the area that you need to illuminate, and the level of brightness (lumens) that you’ll need. As we touched on above, overall safety considerations will probably play a major part in influencing your decision here, as the level of brightness will to some extent be determined by the type of work being carried out. Construction and roadworks, for example, need to be particularly well lit.

You’ll also need to consider to what extent your teams will be moving around to different areas too, or whether they’ll be staying in broadly the same place – and how to account for that. That brings us neatly onto our next point…

The height and rotation

If you need your rig to light a large area, then chances are that it’ll need to be at a fairly significant elevation. That means that wind can be a factor in its stability, so you’ll need to make sure that it’s stable enough for the height at which you need it to operate. Lower towers that light a relatively small area shouldn’t be too much of a concern, but if you’re lighting a significant area (especially for a relatively large or long-term project), then wind will definitely need to be something that you account for in your decision.

Rotation is also something to bear in mind, especially if (as we’ve covered above) the work area is likely to change at some point in the project. It’s obviously easily to rotate the rig than it is to just take the entire apparatus down and reposition it. For that reason alone, rotation is something to consider at an early stage. If you need to, you can always ask one of our team, who will be able to provide more detailed advice.

Fuel efficiency – how many hours will you need?

This is another of the crucial elements you’ll need to decide. Lighting towers are generally capable of running 24-7, but your choice will be influenced by the type of bulb involved and how long it needs to go before refuelling.  Broadly speaking, there are two types of bulbs to choose from – LED and metal halide.

Metal halide bulbs are bright, warm lights, noted for the particularly high level of illumination they provide. A metal halide lighting tower generally consumes 4 litres of fuel per hour, which means they tend to need refuelling every 48-50 hours.

LED lamps on the other hand are high intensity and low-voltage. They don’t provide quite as much intense illumination as metal halide lights, but they do require notably less energy to run. Specifically, an LED lighting rig can potentially run for up to 200 hours before refuelling, burning between 0.8 to 2.5 litres per hour. What’s more, they can be instantly turned on and off, without requiring any time to warm up, so that alone makes them a popular choice for our customers.

Noise generation

This isn’t quite as pressing as concerns relating to safety or efficiency, but it’s still probably going to be on your agenda if you’re working in an urban environment, or residential area. The noise of your equipment (including your lighting) can have a disproportionately stressful effect on people based in the local area, so if you’re working in one of these types of spaces, then alongside energy efficiency, it’s worth taking the extra time to make sure that your equipment realistically runs as quietly as possible. Once again, if you need some assistance on this, our team is all too happy to help here at Smiths Hire.

We have more than five decades of experience behind us, so whether need Portable LED Lighting Hire or Portable Lighting Tower Hire, you can always count on us to provide advice in as much or as little detail as you need. At Smiths Hire, we’ve been providing quality equipment and tool hire services to the DIY and trade sectors throughout our entire 50-year history, operating from 16 tool hire depots across the North West and Yorkshire, including several in major hubs like Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

If you have any questions regarding any of our lighting rigs or any of our other products and services, don’t hesitate to give our friendly team a call on 0333 323 2100. We’re always on hand to help!