Putting up Christmas lights no matter why you celebrate during the holiday season is a rite of passage. For many homeowners, putting out Christmas lights, decorations, and more is a way to show your holiday spirit. Roofcorp has some Christmas light safety tips to ensure you’re bringing the cheer to your family, neighborhood, and more each and every year.
Christmas Light Safety Tips to Live By
- Before you even begin thinking about hanging your lights, you want to check the lights, cords, and everything related to the Christmas lights for frays, rips, rusting, and more. These are fire hazards, especially when used outdoors during the winter.
- If your lights are older than ten years, consider throwing them out. Most new Christmas lights utilize built-in fuses which help keep them from sparking when short circuiting.
- Always replaced burned out bulbs, even if you buy strands that go around them. Those burned out bulbs are a fire hazard.
- Make sure all light bulbs are tightly screwed in to prevent moisture from getting between the connections. Ensure you’re using an outdoor utility cord for power, running it indoors to control the timing and power source.
- If using a standard extension cord for any part of your Christmas light setup, ensure you’re using an outdoor one. Regular extension cords can overheat quickly. If it’s warm to the touch, it’s overheating and you should unplug it right away.
- Another extension cord tip: When running them on the ground, even outdoor ones, use bricks or another means to keep them off the ground at least four to five inches to prevent snow build-up from getting inside if pierced or damaged.
- Never, ever use nails, screws, tacks or staples to hang Christmas lights. While this may seem easy and more convenient, anything metal that goes through a stand can become electrified and dangerous to the touch. Insulated hooks were created just for Christmas light safety tips lists like this.
- Only use outdoor lights for your Christmas display. They’re made for the outdoors for a reason and can stand the punishment of being there during cold and wet weather.
- Turn off your Christmas lights overnight and anytime you leave your home. Use a timer to keep them on schedule. While this may seem to defeat the purpose of Christmas lights and the displays setup, if you’re not there and something happens, you can’t deal with it.
Remember these Christmas light safety tips this year to ensure a safe and prosperous season.
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