Electrical – Is it okay for an electrical switch to get warm

dimmer-switchelectricallightingmultiway-switchswitch

I installed a FEIT Electric dimmer switch on a circuit that controls 2 overhead lights.

I noticed that, even when not using the dimmer, the toggle portion of the switch is warm to the touch. Is this okay?

This is the switch:

FEIT Electric Dimmer Switch

Here are a few more details:

  • The circuit includes 2 switches. The other switch is a standard non-dimmer switch.
  • The 2 overhead lights each house 3 60W bulbs, for a total of 3*60*2=360W
  • I think the bulbs in the light fixtures are halogen bulbs
  • All electric wiring and circuit breakers are less than 15 years old

Best Answer

Short answer, most dimmers do get warm when in use. If the dimmer does not have a mechanical method of turning completely off. Then there is a good chance that you are still getting some electrical flow through the switch and that would mean the dimmer could stay warm. In other words what @Harper said.

The biggest question I would have would be if it was getting excessively hot? I would say somewhere above 30 C (86 F) would seem to be excessive.

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