San Diego Electrical Contractors Present: Outdoor Christmas Lights Safety

The holiday season is almost upon us, so San Diego electrical contractors are providing homeowners and business owners with some great tips for using outdoor Christmas lights. Even if you don’t use lighting outdoors for the holidays, perhaps you use string lights or other electrical lighting on your deck, on your patio, or in your garden or other outdoor living areas. The same tips would apply to any type of string lights.

According to San Diego electrical contractors, serious problems can be caused by using lights or extension cords improperly. These might include short-outs, fires, or even electrocution.

Follow the guidelines from San Diego electrical contractors to make sure your outdoor lighting is safe.

Outdoor Christmas lights - safety tips

1. When purchasing outdoor Christmas lights, use only lights that are approved for outdoor use. The lights should be UL or ETL approved. You can find this information on the package.
2. If you’re using lights from a previous year, inspect them first. Check for frays and nicks in the cords and for damaged sockets.
3. If the sockets and cords are okay, plug the lights in before hanging them to check for bad bulbs. If you have to replace bulbs, be sure to use bulbs of the same wattage.
4. Use only extension cords approved for outdoor use, and don’t run the cords from inside to outside through a window. If the window were to close completely on the cord, the cord could be damaged. Your extension cords should be used only in a groundfault circuit interrupter to prevent electrical shock.
5. If you’re hanging lights on your home or on other surfaces where they have to be attached, don’t use staples or nails. Instead, use insulated hangers. If you use staples or nails, you’ll run the risk of damaging the protective coating of the cord wires.
6. If you’re stringing lights on trees or tall shrubs, make sure they’re not near powerlines.
7. Keeping the string lights off the ground will help prevent them from getting broken.
8. Keep extension cords off paths and walkways to prevent tripping accidents and cord damage.
9. Using net lights on shrubbery will make your job a lot easier, and the lights will be evenly spaced.
10. Unplug all the lights before going to bed each night.

Solar Christmas lights

To completely avoid practically all of the problems mentioned above, San Diego electrical contractors state that solar Christmas lights might be your best bet. For one thing, they don’t get as hot as traditional lights. For another, there are no cords, so you can place them wherever you want and not just near an electrical outlet. The fact that they’re powered by the sun instead of by electricity via a cord and outlet makes them much safer. The danger of electrocution is removed, along with the chance of fire and short-outs.

Solar Christmas lights won’t increase your power bill, either, and they turn themselves on and off, so you won’t even have to remember to do that. San Diego electrical contractors add that solar Christmas lights are available in white, colors, and multi-colors.