SAN ANTONIO – It’s the first weekend after Thanksgiving, and putting up Christmas lights or your tree may be on your to-do list.
From small displays to Griswold-worthy exhibits, safety should be a part of every stage when putting up Christmas lights. Before grabbing the ladder, there’s a few tips to keep from winding up in the dark.
Electrician Sam Provenza, the operations manager for Mister Sparky, said if you are going to reuse lights, one of the first things to do is to inspect the plugs and the wires.
“Pay attention to the prongs,” he advised.
He said to look to see it they are bent or twisted and make sure they are straight. He said it’s a good idea to avoid using lights that have prongs that don’t have a good fit into the outlet.
“Things that can happen if it’s not fully plugged in and if you’re overloading an outlet, (you could have a flash or spark) that could leave burn marks, or that blackening around (the outlet),” he said.
Provenza said nowadays, many newer homes have new smart circuit breakers that are AFCI protected, meaning they have an arc fault circuit interrupter that protects against arcs/flashes that can happen when plugs are not secured or when the wires are frayed and if plugged-in devices get too hot.
If you are adding or need new lights, he said you may want to look at buying LEDs.
“The best bet is to shop and buy LED lights because you’re going to use much less wattage,” Provenza said. “Switching to LED is going to help you avoid that overloading. If you do want to go like Griswold style and just plug in everything, definitely go with the LED compared to the incandescent because you have a much less chance of causing a problem.”
When buying either incandescent or LEDs, he said to look for the Underwriters Laboratory or UL certification mark, especially if you are shopping for lights online.
“The UL listing means that it has gone through the Underwriters Laboratory here in the United States and it’s been approved to be used here in the United States,” Provenza said. “If it doesn’t have that UL listing mark on it, it potentially ... it’s not designed to work with the safety features inside of our homes.”
A well-known safety tip for plugging things in is one many people know: Don’t plug so many things into an outlet, extension cord, power strip or surge protector. Doing so is a good way to trip the breaker, formerly known as the fuse box, or circuit panel, which causes the lights in the house to go out.
And in some instances, even if you don’t overload an outlet, something you plug in, like Christmas lights, shuts off the power.
“If you noticed what you plugged into an outlet instantly tripped, definitely unplug that,” Provenza said. “When the breaker trips though, it’s doing its job, which is supposed to be keeping you safe. So unplugging that, looking at the circuit visually, and then you can go and reset that breaker if you’re comfortable enough doing that.”
For those who are not comfortable doing it themselves, he suggested calling an electrician.
Another thing Provenza wanted to bring awareness to is the mistake of using indoor cords outside.
“We get so many calls this time of year for, ‘Oh, I plugged my Christmas lights up and now half my house isn’t working, what’s going on?’” he said. “A lot of the times we come out there and what we find out is that you are using indoor rated extension cords on the outside.”
He pointed out that the flimsier indoor cords with a splitter that lets you plug in multiple items don’t have the same weatherproofing that outdoor-rated cords have.
He said these days, manufacturers have started making outdoor rated cords a little easier to recognize by making it thick and green in color.
“You want to make sure that everything you’re using outdoors is rated to be outside,” Provenza said.
Another reminder he said is before plugging in Christmas lights outside, to lift or open the covers over your outside outlets and clean out any spider webs and debris that may have accumulated since the last time it was used.
Provenza said you want to avoid pushing debris into the electrical connections.
“The more strands you have strung together, especially those with incandescent bulbs, it’s not just the bulb that heats up, but the string itself will actually get hot,” Provenza said. “So remember, the further distance you have from the source of power, the hotter they’re going to become.”
He said you may want to rethink using that old surge protector. The expiration date may be posted on the back.
“If you have an old yellow one sitting at home, it’s really just acting as a splitter,” he said. “It’s not doing its surge or ground protection like it’s supposed to be.”
Provenza said be mindful of how much electricity you normally use from things like appliances and your HVAC system and consider how much more your decorations will add to your home’s circuit demand load.
Lastly, he recommended testing the smoke detectors in your home to make sure they are working properly.
Read also: