owners of the house I’m working on have a dimmer that gets hot to the touch.
It controls 2 chandeliers with multiple lamps.
I’m thinking it is overloaded.
It is a slider type dimmer.
What is a “normal” ampacity of a dimmer??
what size should I look/ask for at the sparkie-supply??
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You can get them in all wattages.
But most of them are 600 watts, WITH tabs on both side.
Most 600 watt dimmers have wide heatsink across the front. They are scored so that you can snap them off if you are mounting it next to another one (or possibly some other types of switches).
IIRC taking of either side reduces the wattage by 100 watts, or 200 for both.
overloaded...
50% over approximate load..
count bulbs.. total up the wattage...
rated in watts.. many sizes / ratings to choose from..
fire hazzard present and accounted for..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
when you change it make sure the wires are servicable and not cooked..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Thanx Marty
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no problemo..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Try jumping up to a 1000 watt dimmer. I had this problem at a clients house a couple of years ago. This guy ended up with 90+ cans in his house. Some switches had 9 lights on them. Originally we had 600 watts in there, no go, we jumped up to the 1000w and havent had a problem.
Dimmers should be mounted in a metal box. Acts like a heat sink. Used to be writen in the instructions that came with them.
Ozlander
just took a closer look at lights and dimmer...
600W lutron slide/switch ...
two 12 bulb chandeliers...
owner says 15W bulbs...
I gets me a chair to check...
2 out of 24 bulbs are 15W
rest are 25W
580W on a 600W dimmer...
in a plastic box.
picked up a 1000 w dimmer...
Hope she likes it...
gonna let her approve before install...
63 bucks w/ tax!!!
Kaching!!!
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Like Bill says, a standard dimmer is 600 watts, available up to 1000 watts (maybe 1200 if you dig around) in a unit that readily fits a standard box. And if multiple units are placed side-by-side they must be derated.
If you have two chandeliers each with 5 60 watt bulbs then you're right at 600 watts, and since the units don't really hold up well when run to the limit, a 1000 watt dimmer would be a better choice.
But note that any dimmer will get quite warm (though should not get too hot to touch or hot enough to cause burning odor) when run near it's load limit and dimmed to about 75% brightness. If the unit is only "quite warm" and no odor is protected, it's probably "adequate" for the job. (But do the math on bulb size/count to be sure.)