Modern bulbs - compatibility with old dimmer switches...

pinkteapot

Moved into our 25 year old house in Feb. Almost every light-switch has been replaced with dimmer switches and currently all the bulbs are old filament ones (not energy-saving/LED etc).

Every light has also been replaced with a light fitting with multiple bulbs. We have 25 lightbulbs downstairs and that's not including the kitchen!

Our electricity bills are about 25% higher than at our old house and we think this is in large part due to the sheer number of lightbulbs, so as they go we'll replace with energy-saving (also because you can't buy old bulbs any more).

We didn't switch to energy-saving bulbs at our old house because I didn't like the colour of the light with the earlier ones, but I know the technology has moved on. But, as a result, I don't know much about them.

Question is, are new bulbs compatible with fairly old dimmer switches? Is any 'dimmable' bulb OK or would we have to replace the switches with more modern ones?

Browntoa

http://www.philips.co.uk/e/led-lighting/dimmable-led-lighting.html

phillips do them as do others

pinkteapot

I'm so behind I don't even know what LED bulbs are and how they differ to the energy-saving bulbs that first came out a few years ago.

Hopefully there'll be one bonus of switching to energy-saving bulbs. At the moment, because all the fittings have been replaced with multi-bulb ones, if we turn on every single light downstairs at the same time it trips the lighting fuse. :rotfl:

jennifernil

Forget the old type, LEDs are the way to go, and you can get dimmable ones, though they do cost more than the non-dimmable.

The old energy savers cannot be used with dimmers.

Our house is 26 years old and we too have lots of dimmer switches. We recently replaced a lot of our old screw-in spotlights with dimmable GU10 LED ones, using ES to GU10 adapters, and our old dimmers work fine.

Our dimmers are MK brand.

To use with the LEDs I think they need to be of a certain type , something to do with the way they work.

Some technical person will be along soon to advise you I'm sure.

phoenix_w

Why not just replace the dimmer switches for normal light switches? I replaced a bunch in my last place, and have replaced non dimmer ones in my new place - as long as you can pull a fuse/switch an mcb and are competent with a screwdriver, it's a simple 5 minute job per switch.

pinkteapot

We like the dimmer switches. Eg in the lounge of an evening - it's nice to be able to turn the lights down.

So, for energy-saving bulbs, are LED the ONLY option if we want dimmable? I've just seen the price of them! :eek:

Still not clear on whether our old dimmer switches would be OK, or would need replacing with new ones. I've absolutely no idea what type of dimmer switches they are, but they'll have been there for several years.

DRP

the previous owners of our place went all out for 5-arm black chandelier lights - 3 in the hallways, 1 in lounge, 1 in diner (and a 4 arm bathroom light too). Therefore 29 bulbs, where 6 would be sufficient! (not to mention that they are all metal, and theres no earth on the lighting circuit).

We're getting the lighting done, putting in simple pendants and light shades.

And we're getting rid of all the darn dimmer switches- surely table lamps are much more relaxing than a central ceiling light!?

pinkteapot

We're happy with the light fittings and dimmer switches that we have. Just trying to work out what we do when the bulbs start going...

Despite the cost of buying a lot of LED/energy-saving bulbs, it's still going to cheaper than replacing all the fittings!

We don't have any free table space for table lamps. At our last house which didn't have dimmer switches we used some uplighters which had dimmers on them for lounge lighting, but don't need them at the new house due the dimmer switches giving us the variable brightness.

pinkteapot

Reading around online and it's clear as mud. Not to sound too curmudgeonly, but remember when light bulbs were just lightbulbs and you just bought one with the right screw/bayonet and wattage?!

marleyboy

pinkteapot wrote: »

remember when light bulbs were just lightbulbs and you just bought one with the right screw/bayonet and wattage?!

Unfortunately, just like round pin plugs and outside toilets, they become part of a history.

Jonesya

There is no general rule - you can get compact fluorescents which are dimmable and ones that are not, you can get led bulbs which are dimmable and ones that are not. You need to check the description for each bulb type your buying.

You can also get compatibility issues with the dimmers, particularly when they are only driving a few low energy bulbs as some need a minimum load to work correctly.