4 way dimmer burning out

[Jasontart]

I have a 4 way dimmer switch in my lounge, one dimmer is connected to a feature 'cartwheel' hanging from the ceiling that contains 8x40w candle shaped bulbs.

The old dimmer packed up to this light and a qualified electrician fitted a new one. After a couple of weeks, the switch went again. I switched the wires round and got it working on one of the other dimmers but that has now packed up to.

Is it possible that this light fitting is overloading the dimmer?...is there a 'beefed up' 4 way dimmer that would be better.

Not planning on doing this myself, but want to be able to challenge the electrician when he just trys to palm me off with another £75 call out and put the same switch back in.

 

[ColJack]

do the maths..
8 x 40W (and you're certain that you've only put 40W lamps in them???) is 320W..
a lot of dimmers ( especially those for grids and multi gang ones ) will tend to be for 250W...

yes you can get beefier ones, the next size up will be 400W, but that may be cutting it close.. so I'd go for a bigger one for that fitting..

why do you dim it a lot?
why not simply fit lower wattage lamps??
you could alternatively get it rewired into two halves and then switch and / or dim each half independantly based on your needs..