Electrical Caution for Christmas
Christmas is an extremely fun time of the year, but it can be dangerous as well if you are not aware of what can turn the season into a disaster. You should be aware of the dangers when it comes to using a lot of electricity in your light up decorations.
If you plug too many lights into one outlet, you can have a power surge. With that surge there can be sparks that just might set something on fire. Make sure that you don’t plug everything into one outlet. If you do, make sure you use heavy duty extension cords and that you don’t string together to many lights together.
I have a power strip that sits on my front porch. I have 4 extension cords plugged into it. One goes to the roof. One goes to the garage. One goes to the front yard and the fourth one goes to the window light up decorations.
If you look at the box your string lights came in… most of them say not to string more than three of them together. If you do, you run the risk of the lights not drawing enough power (not even lighting up), or drawing too much power causing a number of other problems.
You should only run your lights when you are home. This way you are able to pull the power if something does happen. You can minimize any damage that might happen by being there to put out a fire yourself or calling the fire department.
Don’t turn on your lights in the rain or in the morning after the dew settles. Wait ‘til the yard and house is dry before you plug in your lights. Water conducts electricity which can short out your circuit or set fire to the house or yard.
Have fun with your decorations, but be careful.
December 20th, 2007 at 4:49 am
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