We have been remodling at work and we had an electrician doing some work in the owner's office. There are 15 Halogen lights recessed into the ceiling around his office. Before the remodel, they were on two separate dimming switches but the electrician combined all of the lights onto one switch. Yesterday, we had to replace the switch and I replaced it with a 600 WATT dimmer switch made for halogen bulbs. This morning, the lights started flickering and the switch got real hot and started smoking. What switch if any will be storng enough to handle these lights or should I call the original electrician back out here and make him rewire what he changed in the first place?

First you need to add the total wattage of all 15 lights to determine the right size dimmer. Your dimmer wattage can not be smaller then the total light wattage. Most dimmer choices are 600w,1000w,1500,2000w.

The electrician that originally installed the dimmer needs to return and make any necessary corrections, free of charge, under warranty.

The electrician should bring along, if not already provided, a current Certificate of Insurance. Would be good for you to know he has liability insurance, and good reminder for him that he almost needed to use his insurance.

May be good to have the local electrical inspector there also.

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Originally Posted by tkrussell

The electrician that originally installed the dimmer needs to return and make any necessary corrections, free of charge, under warranty.

The electrician should bring along, if not already provided, a current Certificate of Insurance. Would be good for you to know he has liability insurance, and good reminder for him that he almost needed to use his insurance.

May be good to have the local electrical inspector there also.

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TK, I have to disagree.

You may have missed this:

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Originally Posted by CLASSIC214

Yesterday, we had to replace the switch and I replaced it with a 600 WATT dimmer switch made for halogen bulbs.

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This is not the fault of the electrician. It is the fault of whomever install the 600 watt dimmer on so many lights. In a commercial setting no less.
Classic, you should thank your lucky stars there was no fire or injury. You should NOT have touched this!

Your right Stan, I did miss that. Read too fast.

Retract what I said about your electrician, call in the inspector on yourself.

And be sure your insurance is up to date.

Stan is right you should not have touched this.

Call in your electrician to make the changes you like.