If you have old dimmers with the turn knob on them, is it a good idea to replace them? Yes, it is a great idea. Actually, using dimmers are supposed to save energy. And it does not. On old dimmers, they increase the amperage and increase the resistance. That in turn will increase heat which makes more amperage on the circuit. So actually, resistance did not do anything but dim your lights a long time ago. But that was all it was supposed to do, dim you lights. Now, the new dimmers do more than that. They dim your lights, and they save you energy at the same time.

They do it through a different method of resistance using what they call an SCR, silicone-controlled rectifier. But it saves you energy, and in turn, saves you money. A silicone rectifier does not do the same thing as a resister. It cuts the voltage instead of resisting volts.

But the resister, or rheostat, depends on the load. Light bulbs are rated by wattage. Your dimmer is restricted by the wattage that it is rated for. There are dimmers in different sizes such as 600 watt, 1000 watt, and 1500 watt in commercial. Putting too many high wattage bulbs in a fixture will cause your dimmer to get hot. Some new dimmers are much more capable of saving energy than the old resistant type dimmers or rotary type dimmers. The costs for a new dimmer is higher but it will, over time, save you money.

I would like to invite you to visit http://www.energyconsciousconsultant.com to find out how Farbe’s Electric can give suggestions to reduce your energy costs to save money.