How Does A Lutron Dimmer Affect Bulb Life?
Lutron dimmers will extend the life of a typical incandescent bulb by as much as 20 times the rated life! Normal household bulbs fail when the filament inside breaks, which in turn is caused when the coating on the filament is eventually “boiled off” the filament wire (hence the reason bulbs get “dark” before they fail). Lutron dimmers reduce the power to the lamp (remember, they save energy), which in turn makes the bulbs operate at a lower temperature. This reduces the rate at which the tungsten material leaves the filament, and the end result is far fewer bulbs to replace! You can extend bulb life by four times by dimming the lights by only 20% from full (to 80% of normal brightness). At 50% brightness, the life extension jumps up to 20 times.
