Dimmer switch not working

Frogling

We put a dimmer switch in our little girls' nursery about 6 months ago, and it worked perfectly until a few weeks ago. Now it does nothing at all Hubby thinks this might have coincided with his changing the lightbulb in the nursery. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what has happened to cause it to stop working, and is there a way to fix it, or do we need to install a new dimmer switch?

Dave_T_UK

have you changed the TYPE of bulb you had in there? I think that most if not all energy saving bulbs will not work with a dimmer, you need a standard type bulb.

WestonDave

Try swapping the switch with one from another room, which will isolate whether its the switch itself or something on the circuit - its possible that a wire got dislodged during the bulb change. It is however most likely that the resistor in the dimmer switch has given up the ghost and you'll need a new switch. Don't buy a cheap one and check the power rating on it to ensure it is up to the number of bulbs you are running.

(Obviously turn off the power before starting to move switches about)

Mikeyorks

Post #2 is probably your answer.

If you've put a low energy bulb in that is likely to be the reason it's not working. As they contain a fluorescent element - and most dimmers carry a warning to the effect they don't work with those

Gaz_2-2

As stated above if you have changed the type of bulb to one of the energy efficient type bulbs these don't work with dimmers, if not it could be that the the transformer in the dimmer which dims the light could be faulty in which case you need a new dimmer.

Frogling

Thanks for the replies everyone - we haven't put an energy saving lightbulb in the nursery, so sounds like the dimmer switch itself is at fault. Guess I'll be off to Homebase later to buy a new one!

YorkshireBoy

Frogling wrote:

Guess I'll be off to Homebase later to buy a new one!

Make sure you buy a quality product.

The best ones are 'branded' (MK etc) and will contain a semi-conductor fuse - which will protect the triac/diac arrrangement in the event of a surge when the lamp blows (the MCB at the consumer unit simply isn't quick enough to protect the sensitive electronic components in the dimmer).

chez_2

I thought that whilst dimmers do not 'dim' an energy saving bulb, they should still operate it (ie it will be off until the resistance reaches a point where there is enough power to the bulb, at which point it switches on)?

YorkshireBoy

chez wrote:

I thought that whilst dimmers do not 'dim' an energy saving bulb, they should still operate it (ie it will be off until the resistance reaches a point where there is enough power to the bulb, at which point it switches on)?

Googling "how do fluorescent lights work" returns...

http://www.fraw.org.uk/download/frn/frpg-02.pdf

Does that explain it for you?

Lord_Gardener

chez wrote:

I thought that whilst dimmers do not 'dim' an energy saving bulb, they should still operate it (ie it will be off until the resistance reaches a point where there is enough power to the bulb, at which point it switches on)?

Yes, they do! Our eldest has had a energy saving bulb in her bedroom - which is turned on by a dimmer switch - for a number of years, after growing out of having the need for a light to be on all night!

chez_2

Lord_Gardener wrote:

Yes, they do! Our eldest has had a energy saving bulb in her bedroom - which is turned on by a dimmer switch - for a number of years, after growing out of having the need for a light to be on all night!

Thought so.

I tried an energy saving bulb in our bedroom once and seem to recall it still working, just not dimming