DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

I have 2 dimmer switches in my flat, when a bulb has blown in the fittings that they control, the dimmer no longer works. When the bulbs went the whole electric wen off in the flat. I have replaced the bulbs but still the dimmer doesn't work, any ideas as to why?

Hi

Have you had a look at the DIY Doctor projects: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects.htm There are a couple of projects that cover dimmer switches that may be of some use to you.

Regards

Dimmer switches are electronic devices and should be protected as such i.e. with semi-conductor fuses. But in the real world we tend to use the fuse or MCB in the consumer unit as only protection which will protect personal but not the electronics. Bulbs should have fuses built into the bulb in case one gets ionisation when they blow (Glass often goes black) but the cheaper imports don’t seem to be designed this way so if ionisation does happen then it will blow the dimmer switch.
Doesn’t happen too often and I have always just taken a chance until I finally removed all my dimmer switches so I could use compact florescent lamps.
Eric