Dimmer Switch Has Left The Building!

[AlHos]

Evening all - I have searched for this topic on here and could not get a totally definitive answer so i thought one of you might be kind enough to advise.

Our old cottage is being totally refitted with new stud work, plasterboard, wiring, consumer unit, plumbing etc and in the livingroom we installed 5 x recessed lights which have 5 x GU10 50w bulbs in them with plenty of air space above and around for heat dissipation.

A Crabtree chrome 2 gang dimmer switch from Screwfix was fitted to control them (1 way circuit) and a bulb blew this week - they have only been running for about 10-20 hours in total spread out over a few days - cheap bulbs from eBay is the cause of that i reckon.

Anyway, the MCB tripped when the bulb blew and after a new bulb, the circuit did not work and I have traced it with my tester and proven that the dimmer switch is now defunct. The dimmer swith is rated maximum 250w and we installed 250w worth of GU10's.

Should the dimmer be higher rated or is it just a dodgy switch?

Screwfix are sending out a replacement but keen to know if you think the same will happen again?

Cheers

 

[Spark123]

Some dimmer switched need to be de-rated by 50% for halogen lamps, look at the instructions which came with the dimmer. And don't use cheap lamps!

 

[securespark]

MK dimmers (I know yours wasn't) come with a warning that unfused lamps may damage the dimmer when they fail.

Use quality fused lamps (Osram spring to mind ) or every time they fail, you will face a dimmer replacement. It's not screwfix's fault, so they're pretty good sending you a replacement.

 

[AlHos]

Thanks for that - I am going down tonight and will check that.

 

[AlHos]

Thanks guys - the leaflet says that the unit does not require any derating and it has an integrate temperature protection fuse (or somehting like that). I guess if the fuse blew it is not serviceable as it appears to be a sealed unit.

Anyway, good shout re good quality bulbs...I will get them ordered as I cannot face frequent and costly dimmer replacements!