Christmas Lighting Safety Tips​

Date: December 8, 2022

It’s the holiday season! Time to gather with friends and family, embrace Christmas cheer, and ring in the New Year… safely!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are among the leading days of the year for home fires. Electrical distribution and lighting equipment are the third leading cause of cold weather home fires.

As you decorate your home with Christmas lights, be sure to avoid overloading circuits. Multiple electrical outlets may be connected to a single circuit. If you don’t have a map of your home’s electrical circuits, you can create one. Connect a light to an outlet you want to test, go to your electrical panel or “breaker box” and switch off individual circuits, then take note of which outlets are connected to each circuit.

Wondering how many sets of lights you can safely string together? A 15-amp circuit should safely manage 1800 watts (15 amps x 120 volts). For safety, don’t exceed 80% of a circuit’s capacity. (80% of 1800 = 1440). Further, connected strands should not exceed 210 watts in total. If the wattage is not listed on the cord, a wattage meter can be used to calculate the electric draw. LED Christmas lights consume up to 90% less energy than incandescent lights.

Make sure the combined wattage of your Christmas lights does not exceed the rating of your extension cords. Extension cords are rated in terms of how many amps or watts they can safely carry. Overloading an extension cord can lead to overheating creating a possible fire hazard. Check all cords and replace any that are frayed or have bare wires.

Use only outdoor rated lights outside and connect them to GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlets. GFCI outlets trip when there is an electrical current on an unintended path, such as through water, protecting against electric shock.

When hanging lights, don’t use nails or staples that can penetrate the wires. Exposed wires can lead to an electrical fire.

Turning off lights when you are not home and while you are sleeping greatly reduces the risk of an electrical short going unnoticed and causing a fire.

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