Screws showing hot on a dimmer switch.

[David A. Andersen]

OK, good.

I don't see many bare screws unless the cover plate is metal.

[kluce]

Ok, I went back and I had the same temperatures. Took the cover off but couldn't see any wires unless I took the dimmer switch out (which I wasn't going to do). I just reported what I seen and felt and did recommend further evaluation to determine if some type of correction is needed. Being able to feel that the screws are hot by itself is good enough for me to recommended further evaluation by an electrician.

Originally Posted by dandersen

OK, good.

I don't see many bare screws unless the cover plate is metal.

Ok, I didn't pay attention that you do infrared scanning. When I show problems descovered by an Infrared camera to others, the question seems to always comes up if I was scanning metal. If I didn't include that information when starting this tread, there was a good chance somebody would have asked that question.

[David A. Andersen]

Kevin, I have come across this a lot.
Mostly it is high wattage on the circuit. Thoes can lights in this case.
There are many options on bulb wattage for can lights. Be sure someone didn't over do it on one or more bulbs. No need for a high watt bulb that needs to be dimmed all the time!
Higher amp dimmer switches have heat sinks to handle the heat they make.
They won't fit in your box though.
The screws are the heat sink conductor to the "outside".
Just beware that they make a lot of heat as part of their job (like a GFCI outlet).
You will likely find the circuit breaker on this same circuit also hot at the panel. Not too hot, just quite hot!