Here at Milestone, we understand how important these seemingly innocuous devices are to homeowners’ day-to-day lives. Because of this, we offer a wide range of light switch services, including repairs, installations, and replacements for both conventional light switches and dimmer switches. We want all our customers to feel confident that, any time they reach for the switch, the lights will come on. There are a few different kinds of light switch systems, but they all work in essentially the same way.<\/p>\n

Single-pole switches are the most common and simplest light switch system. These are used when a light source or outlet only needs to be controlled from one location, like the overhead lights in a bedroom.<\/p>\n

These switches use a toggle lever\u2014the small bar you move up or down to turn a light on or off\u2014that is marked with \u201cON\u201d on one side and \u201cOFF\u201d on the other. When someone flips the switch to \u201cON,\u201d a gate inside closes and completes an electrical circuit, allowing electricity to flow down a hot wire to the light or outlet controlled by the switch. When the switch is flipped \u201cOFF,\u201d the circuit is opened and the flow of electricity to the hot wire is cut off. With a single-pole switch, there is only one hot wire attached.<\/p>\n

Three-Way Switches
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Three-way switches are used in situations where it’s useful to have a single light or outlet controlled from two different locations, like having a switch for the light over a staircase located both at the top and bottom of the stairs.<\/p>\n

These switches often have a toggle lever that makes them virtually identical to single-pole switches, except \u201cON\u201d and \u201cOFF\u201d will not be marked on the toggles.<\/p>\n

Like a single-pole switch, three-way switches have an internal gate that closes and opens the electrical circuit to turn lights and outlets on and off. But these switches’ gates are shaped differently so that the circuit is only closed when both toggles are in the same position, either both up or both down. If one toggle is in a different position than the other, the circuit stays open and the light or outlet will stay off. There are some other kinds of switches, but they are not commonly used for household applications.<\/p>\n\n

Let Milestone \u2018Fix it in a Flash’ for You!<\/h2>\n