The Wiring Whiz
Electrical Service Specialists for your home
Electrical Service Specialists for your home
Home Electrical safety during the Holidays
The holidays are right around the corner! It’s that special time when everyone reunites with family and friends. You celebrate with a hearty, home cooked meal and maybe you exchange a few gifts. And everyone decorates their home…at least a little bit.!
Around my household we put up lights around the roof and windows. I know many of you do the same. If you’re planning on doing so, I urge you to be careful. There are some dangers that you should be wary of. Over $23 million in property damage occurs every holiday season! Much of that is credited to electrocutions and fires. So, when you’re putting up your holiday lighting this season, here’s a couple of helpful pointers to keep you safe:
Make sure that all the lighting you use for outside your home is meant for outdoor use. Outdoor lighting is weatherproof and designed to temporarily handle harsh weather.
Think about purchasing outdoor lighting that’s on strings with miniature, low-heat producing bulbs. These bulbs require less amperage and are less likely to overload an outlet.
Outlets for exterior lighting should accommodate three-prong grounded plugs and should be on a circuit protected by a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI).
If you need to use an extension cord outside, use only those designed for the outdoors. They should also have three-prong plugs..
Check the manufacturer’s guidelines to determine the number of light strings that may be safely plugged together. If the packaging does not indicate the number, connect no more than three light strings together.
Before putting up any outdoor lighting, plug the string in to ensure all the bulbs are operating. And when unpacking your lights check for frayed or loose wires of damaged sockets. Throw away any damaged light strings.
When installing lights, use screw-in hooks or other fasteners. Avoid nails and staple guns at all costs: they can easily cut or damage insulation and conductors.
Remove outdoor lighting at the end of the holiday season. Holiday lights are not designed to withstand prolonged exposure to sun and weather.