Steve... a VARILIGHT 'dimmable' CFL should work fine in a circuit with a filament lamp...if anything it will do away with the problem of underloading your dimmer.
TRUE ...You will have to use compact CFLs that have been designed to be dimmable... you cannot and must not use standard CFLs..
Expensive? ....what price to save humanity? :D
mk2phil......the transformer that mikhailfaradayski is pointing you towards is manufactured by a company that specialises in dimming so you should have no problems there.....
If you check out the technical section of the TLC website you will find a voltage drop calculator that will give you...
if you use megaman CFL GU10s .....you'll be waiting an age for them to light up and then in a few months some will take longer than others to get burning and you'll have this magical, sporadic lighting effect for a fraction of the price! :lol:
first question is whether or not it is a dimmable fitting? ....
you'll have to check that with B&Q as the chinese sweat shop that supplied it probably have no contact details on the box... :wink: