Replies

1. 
   PaulBinCT | Mar 15, 2008 05:36am | #1

   Yuppp... it's the loss of energy (the dimmer isn't 100% efficient) being expressed as heat.

   PaulB

    

2. 
   larryscabnuts | Mar 15, 2008 05:40am | #2

   I am about to change my dimmers out for regular on-off switches. Yep like the other post they heat up.

1. 
   hmj | Mar 15, 2008 04:30pm | #5

   WHy are you swapping, because they get warm?

1. 
   larryscabnuts | Mar 15, 2008 08:31pm | #6

   Nah.. I am old and see no need to dim the lights.
   Mine not only get warm they get hot. I don't like it.

   Edited 3/15/2008 1:32 pm ET by larryscabnuts

3. 
   rasconc | Mar 15, 2008 06:36am | #3

   That is one reason they have the wider tabs on some, more of a heat sink.  If putting into a two or more gang box with other devices you have to adjust sometimes.

4. 
   FatRoman | Mar 15, 2008 11:41am | #4

   Warm is fine.

   If it's getting hot, try swapping it out for a dimmer that's rated for a higher wattage. You can find them in 600w or 1000w. Don't trim the mounting plate down without realizing that that is the heat sink, and that you'll wind up turning a 600w switch into (say) a 400w one by removing some of the plate.

   'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
5. 
   MSA1 | Mar 15, 2008 09:56pm | #7

   Whats your wattage on the bulbs? If you're running 6 100 watt bulbs with a 600 watt dimmer (standard) you may need to upgrade to a 1000w dimmer.

   I believe your not supposed to have more than 60 or 80% of rated wattage going through the switch.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 3/15/2008 2:56 pm ET by MSA1

1. 
   Bravoz | Apr 19, 2008 12:39am | #8

   I am surprised that no one suggested that you switch to CFL bulbs. (They are available for fixtures controlled by dimmers.) Before we switched, we had 8 ceiling lights on one dimmer, each rated at 75 watts and the switch got **hot! After we switched to CFLs, we had 8 bulbs, each rated at 17 watts, and the switch stays cool. As a bonus, the new bulbs were brighter than the old ones; I noticed this when we had put in four new bulbs and compared them to the old ones.

1. 
   MSA1 | Apr 19, 2008 04:10am | #9

   I think you intended this post to go to someone else.

   Glad I got it though, I wasnt aware they made CFL's that were compatible with dimmers.