Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - 3-way switch and a dimmer

A home inspector wrote up that the electrical switches for my lights do not work properly. I have a circuit (actually 2 seperate ones) that control the lights in the kitchen. They are 3-way circuits and have a dimmer at one side and a 3-way switch on the other. You can turn the lights on/off at the 3-way switch and turn them on/off at the dimmer. In order to use the dimmer, you must have the other switch in one position (up). If it is not up, then the lights will not turn on from the dimmer. We have lived with it that way for years, is there something wrong with the way it was wired or is the inspector confused? The house is located in North America. :confused:

These are the symptoms of a misidentified common at one or both switches. It can be solved by trial and error.

Each of the two switches, the regular 3-way switch and the 3-way dimmer, has three wires connected to it (not counting grounding). One of these three wires is the common. The common screw on the regular 3-way is usually colored black. The common wire on the 3-way dimmer is the odd-colored wire.

You have three wires to choose from at each switch for the common wire. That's nine combinations in all. One of them will work.

There is also a slight possibility that one of the switches is bad, and an even slighter possibility that one of the wires in the wall has been breached. But don't worry about those until you try the nine combinations.

Thank you for the quick response. The good news is I onloy have 8 combinations left to try!!!! :D

I will keep you posted.