I installed a lighting circuit that has two 3-way switches and one 4-way switch. One 3-way switch is leading into the laundry area from the kitchen, the other 3-way is coming from the garage into the laundry area. And the 4-way is at a wall near a door leaving the laundry area, going into the backyard.

Now the problem is that the 4-way seems to be failing often. This will be the second call back on this one switch. Bring the switch count to #3. When we Finished this house the circuit worked, when we replaced it and showed the homeowner, it worked. Now 4 months later same thing.
We are using Pass and Seymour switches and recepticals. And to date this seems to be the only one to really haunt us. Any help out there, has anyone had anything like this happen to them?

At my house I had a Pass and Seymour 4-way fail twice on me in the same location, I replaced it with a Leviton from HD and no problems for about 8 months now, who says the stuff at the supply house is of better quality?? The P&S 4 way failed the first time about 2 months after installation and about 3 weeks later it failed the 2nd time.

It has been my experience that decora style 4 way switches fail quite often. These have been mostly Leviton. Funny how the price is so much higher for decora, but they seem to be less reliable at least for 4 way's.

I find a higher failure rate with 4-way decora no matter what the brand.

Not trying to bash a manufacturer, but I had a bad batch of red P&S three ways that were installed in 7 O.R.'s. Out of the 14 installed 8 were replaced within 2 months.

This involved dressing out in sterile garb and scheduling with the facility, it was quite a pain.


Roger

Add my name to the pile....I have had NUMEROUS failures with any Decora 4W switch. Decora, only, the standard toggle is fine.

Why are the Decora 4W so expensive?

Yep,
Lots of Leviton Decora 4 way failures. I hate trying to find the bad switch when it faild on one position only but you got a lot of switches conected. Also changed some because the customer complained of a spongy action to them.

Tom

Has anyone had any problems with cooper brand decora or cooper in general? They bought out eagle several years ago. We are on the edge of converting to leviton because of the demand.

I notice because of the large surface area of the button and the fact that they are almost flush with the wall and hard to find in the dark, people tend to hammer on decoras, either because they are groping blindly for them or they just hit them too hard when using them. This may be a little out in left field, but how full is the box? I notice decoras get flaky and temperamental if the wires in the box are pushing on the back of the device.

Have had 5 4 way switch failures out of last 10 4 way switches installed. All were regular toggle type switches. Abouthalf purcased at supply house and the other half at home desperate (when you need it now and the supply ha=ouse is closed or far away).

This past august I replaced 10 3-ways and 2 4-ways in one house within 30 days after it was occupied. Leviton Decora too.

Maybe leviton should have this thread forwarded to them.

Bill

Are you guys using the residential grade decora, or the commercial heavy duty items? I have had good luck with the more expensive Leviton Decora switches. I try to use them in entryways and halls, if not everywhere if there is a budget for it.. I have a customer with 6 rather abusive kids and the commercial decora with nylon wallplates have held up very well. Haven't tried the 4 ways though. The residential decoras have not held up for long in my experience.