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Tips You Should Follow for Christmas Light Safety to Avoid Accidents

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Published on December 13, 2021. EST READ TIME: 4 minutes

Christmas is around the corner, and preparations are in full swing. Christmas is the time when your home is buzzing with festive spirits as your relatives and friends visit to share gifts and greetings. And a common sight around Christmas is the Christmas lights. Their glow is symbolic of the joy that Christmas brings us. However, one needs to be careful while handling them. You would surely not want to face any electrical accidents and other lighting-related issues in the festive season.

Before you start decorating your home for Christmas using light and other home decors, it's essential to spare some time to educate yourself regarding light and electrical safety. It’s very important to follow all the safety precautions to enjoy the festival to its fullest without any incidents. To enhance the safety cover, you should go for electronic equipment insurance as they cover the losses in case of any mishaps.

Inspect the lights before you hang them

Before you start hanging your Christmas light, you should first check all the strands. Inspecting the light for any tampering, loose connections, or fused bulbs is very important as these can become the major cause of electrical accidents. Before stringing up the light strands, you should carefully check them for broken wires, frayed ends, or other minor issues.

Not all the lights are suitable for outdoor use since some are made just to lighten the home interiors. Indoor lights generally have thinner insulation, easily damaged when exposed to rough handling. So you should ensure hanging proper lights based on their functionality.

Throw away any damaged strands

If you are buying new lights, you should get them checked before purchasing. People often use old light, so it is very important to crosscheck every strand and either repair or replace the damaged strands. You should make sure that the bulbs used in the strands are of the required wattage. Also, you should replace all the fused bulbs in your light strands. Modern lights use series connections, so it's very difficult to find the exact point of damage. Using a damaged strand can lead to a short circuit. It's highly recommended that you throw away all the damaged strands that lack a safety fuse and bring new light with enhanced safety features.

Clean your gutters and downspouts

Christmas is an occasion that is celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm. So nowadays it's common to decorate your walls and exteriors of the home. Before installing the Christmas light, you should clean all the gutters and downspouts so that the water is not collected on the roofs. The collected water can increase the chances of short circuit and electrical accidents. Water and debris can hamper the working of outdoor sockets, so you should ensure outdoor lights are plugged into a well-insulated socket and are connected with proper switches and fuses. You should use waterproof lighting stands if there are chances of a downpour during the festival.

Secure your ladder

Decorating the home exteriors is a general practice these days, so you need a ladder to reach the high-up spots. Choosing the right type of ladders is very important. Since metal ladders can conduct electricity, leading to electrical shocks, you should strictly avoid them. The ladder’s height should be proper to reach the spot and properly secured and banked against the wall.

Avoid walking on the roof

Decorating lights across your roof and around your home can also pose a safety hazard if you’re not careful enough. When lights are hung on the walls and roofs, you should avoid walking or working on the roofs. Small children should be stopped from going on the roofs as they can touch the light strands. While hanging lights on the roof, you should use ladders safely, wear slip-resistant footwear, and ensure the connections are properly insulated.

Use plastic safety clips

Plastic is an insulating material that does not conduct electricity. Using plastic clips and safety accessories is highly recommended when working with electrical lights. You should avoid using screws or nails to hang lights as the cords might puncture. These metal objects can wear out the wire insulation and increase the chances of electrification. Using insulated hooks made of plastics is safe to secure the lights properly.

Use the right extension cords

Extension cords are required to supply electricity to your Christmas lights. The length of the grounded extension cords should be enough to reach the required point of connection. Avoid overloading the extension cords by using more lights from a single socket as they have a fixed capacity to handle the loads. You should tape down the ground-level extensions cords to prevent chances of people tripping over them.

Use ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs)

There are chances that electrical accidents can occur when there is a disruption in the grounding path, having low resistance in the decorated lights. In such a case, the current takes an alternate path and flows to the ground, which can cause serious injuries. You should use a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCIs); these are smart circuit breakers that cut off the electric supply if a ground fault occurs within a fraction of seconds. GFCIs must be connected to your Christmas light to reduce the change of electrical damages if they occur.

Use a timer

With the advancement in technology, you can automate all of your Christmas lights with the help of a timer. There are timers or smart plugs available in the market which turn on/off your lights at a certain time every day, and these also enhance the blinking function of the lights.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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