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Do dimmers produce dirty electricity even when the lights are turned all the way up?

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I am having a new light put in, so if the electrician puts in a dimmer switch, but I never dim the lights, will I still have excess dirty electricity?  Should I ask him to eliminate the dimmer switch completely? Thank-you.

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Ellen Whitaker

Good Day,

I have a neighbor whose dimmer switches are creating a lot of RFI in my house. He will change some of them to regular on/off switches for my health, but he wants to hold on to one of them.  He said that if I could find a dimmer switch that would not create the RFI problem, he'd let me change it to that different (better) dimmer switch. Are there any dimmer switches on the market that claim not to create dirty electricity?

Thank you!

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Laura Terry

Is any kind of switch that changes the brightness of a light considered a dimmer/bad? My parents have a light switch (very old) that has a halfway-on position, and the ceiling fixture goes from off, to on, to brighter on. I imagine the lightbulbs in that fixture are old incandescents, but don't know if they're 2-way bulbs.

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Shaun A Kranish Principal
  • Answered

That is true - dimmers always create dirty electricity - and quite a lot of it.  There is no such thing as a clean dimmer switch.  Some people still use them, and use the filters alongside the dimmer.  If you have an outlet that is on the same circuit and is very close to the dimmer switch - this helps.  Personally, I do not use dimmer switches.

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Troy B
  • Under review

Hello,

Generally we recommend to eliminate the dimmer switch completely. The dirty electricity will dramatically increase if you use the switch. You have to measure in any case to prevent the electrical pollution any time you make a change in your electrical. Thank you!