How to Install a Dimmer Switch in Your Home

Home improvement expert Danny Lipford shows you how to replace a toggle switch with a dimmer switch in your home.

How to Install a Dimmer Switch in Your Home Another very easy and popular electrical installation is to change a regular switch to a dimmer switch. Now, the selected dimmer switch that is right for the situation you may have around your home, you need to consider how many lights the switch or dimmer switch will be controlling. Now in this case with this switch, it controls the three lights we have in this little sitting area. Now each of the bulbs is 100 watts so, the three of them together would equal 300 watts. So I needed to get a dimmer switch that would have that type of capacity. In this case this one had 500 watts so, no problem at all on that. It is always better to get one a little bit bigger than one that’s a little smaller than what you actually need. Also another consideration is whether or not you have a single pole or a multiple switch. In this case I have just one switch that controls the lighting in this area so it is the easiest to deal with as a single pole. Now, if you have a switch here and another switch across the room or maybe even a third switch then, you will need to consider that when you are purchasing the right type of dimmer for your home. There are also a lot of different types of dimmers with the rotary type switches, push button, even remote control. The ones I like are the ones with the little switch and then the slide control is right beside it. Now to replace a single pole switch with a dimmer is really very easy. I finished removing the old switch by disconnecting the wires from the screws on either side. This dimmer is setup essentially the same as the switch in terms of the connection so I am simply putting the wires back in the same locations on the new device. Don’t forget to connect the bare ground wire, the dimmer will work without it but it won’t be as safe.