Candace & Lou......about the dimmable fluorescent switches....there is good news and bad news. My statement about dimmable light switches for fluorescent bulbs was a true statement but a bit oversimplified. Here is what I have found out.......
Hubby told me they had dimmable fluorescent lights in the power plant he worked in so that is why he knew about them. Yes...you could retrofit your lights but it would be extremely costly to do so. You would have to buy a dimmable ballast for each fluorescent light fixture (ballast would take care of 2 bulbs) which would cost about $50.00 to $100.00 dollars. Then you would have to redo your light switch because you would need a couple more wires hardwired in to make the new switch work with the dimmable fluroescent light (another $50.00 or more)....unless you put in a wireless remote switch system which would not need the extra wiring and might cost a little less.
If you were building a new structure and planned for the dimmable fluorescent lights the cost would be much less. Retrofitting would most likely be too costly for your current setup unless you have an electrician in your family to run the new wiring.
There are dimmable Compact Fluorescent bulbs out there that you can buy that would not need a switch to be rewired IF you already are using a dimmer switch with an incandescent bulb.
Here is a link to the Lutron website which has dimmer switches and dimmable ballasts. But you would need to know what your fluorescent lights specs are.
http://www.lutron.com/
You could also do a Google search for
"dimmable fluorescent lighting" or
"fluorescent dimmer switches".
Candace.....if you are serious about finding out.....you could go to a commercial lighting store and they can assess your needs and tell you just what it would cost and need an electrician to make the changes. But I am guessing the $$$$$$$$ will scare you away.
Whew!....all this information gathering is too much for my brain.....time to just sit and watch the birds and play some harp music.
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