Safely Lighting the Holidays

Along with gift giving and family gatherings, holiday lights are among the most beautiful yearly traditions associated with the holiday season. During a time of year when natural daylight is scarce, it lifts the heart to see trees and houses outlined in festive lights.

For many families, the most pressing holiday light question is what color lights to use, but Glenn Gallas, owner of Mr. Electric in Hot Springs, Arkansas, says too many people underestimate the danger of improperly installing a holiday-light display. In a variation on the advice of the Electrical Safety Foundation International, Gallas urges everyone to plug into electrical safety before plugging in the Christmas tree lights.

Don't Overload the Outlets

Most outlets in your home are called duplex receptacles, which means that they have two places to plug in electrical appliances. The limited number of outlets is intended to prevent you from drawing more power than your electrical system is designed to supply. If you attach a huge multi-outlet power strip to one of these receptacles so that you can plug in numerous strings of lights, you're effectively trying to trick the system.

Putting too much demand on a system that was not designed to bear such heavy loads creates a risk that the system may overheat. Such overheating could lead to fire—a particularly dangerous possibility considering that indoor lights often hang from the drying, flammable branches of a Christmas tree.
How can you tell if your lights are overloading an outlet? "When the light at the beginning of your string has greater intensity than the luminosity of the next string of lights, that tells you that you have drawn down the voltage too much," says Gallas.

Handle with Care

All of your strings of lights should come with a little sticker that reads "UL Listed." A UL mark signifies that the product has been tested for safety by an independent nonprofit organization called Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Gallas says that most electrical cords are UL Listed and that consumers should never plug a non-UL approved device into their homes.

But the UL mark is no guarantee of safety. For one thing, Gallas warns that the mass-production methods by which cords of holiday lights are produced can lead to defects in the wiring. As a result, you can't simply toss around the cords of lights, but must treat them with great care and caution. "The wires are so small that they only require a little bit of abuse before electrical shorts can occur," says Gallas.

Electrical shorts are particularly risky in strings of holiday lights. Circuit breakers are devices in your electrical system that are designed to sense excessive electrical current and shut down the system before damage can occur. Since holiday lights normally draw such a small amount of current, an electrical short within a string of lights could increase the currency draw while still not tripping the circuit breaker. Since the system does not shut down, power continues to flow to the shorted circuit, creating heat that could cause an electrical fire.

All Extension Cords Are Not Alike

You wouldn't set up your recliner or sofa in the backyard—you'd use outdoor furniture. Similarly, the same extension cord that you string around the living room should not be used on the garden path. There are special extension cords that are rated for outdoor use, primarily due to their ability to withstand wetness.

Note that extension cords used in outdoor lighting displays still should never be placed where they will be submerged in water. "They are outdoor-rated, but not underwater-rated," says Gallas. One common danger comes when homeowners string extension cords along gutters—if the cords then fall into water-filled gutters, the homeowner can later touch the gutter and receive an electrical shock.

Just as you need special cords for outdoor lighting displays, you also need to make sure that any outdoor receptacles are Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) protected. The GFCI device protects you from shock or death. It can detect fluctuations in the current that indicate a situation where an electrical shock may be occurring and shut down the power in a fraction of a second. The GFCIs do wear out from time to time, so they need to be checked and replaced periodically.

Other outdoor lighting safety tips from Gallas include making sure that the outlets into which you plug extension cords are tight fitting and that they have their safety covers in place. He suggests checking all cords from end to end, passing the cord from your left hand to your right hand while checking every inch to make sure that there is no damage or splits. All cords should also have three-pronged grounding plugs, since the third prong enables the circuit breaker to function properly.

Light Limits

How many lights can you attach to one power supply or extension cord? Glenn Gallas and his employees at Mr. Electric in Hot Springs, Arkansas, install 60 professional holiday-lighting displays per year on both residential and commercial buildings. Here are the guidelines they follow:

TYPES OF LIGHTS	Mini	Use larger bulbs (C9—a size of Christmas bulb)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF LIGHTS STRUNG TOGETHER	Six-strings	100 bulbs each
MEANS OF ATTACHING TO POWER SUPPLY	Multiuse extension cord	12- or 14-gauge cord

Holiday Lighting Do's and Don'ts

A Mr. Electric service professional can check out your home before the holidays to make sure you have an adequate number of circuits for your lighting display and that your wiring is in good condition. Such preventive maintenance can help ensure that you not only have a safe holiday, but a safe home year-round.

• DON'T staple or nail strings of lights to your house. You could damage the wire and create a safety hazard. Instead, use clips, glue-on strips, or Velcro strips to secure the wires in place.
• DON'T use the same strings of lights year after year, especially outdoor lights that are subject to the wear and tear of weather conditions. Unlike the commercial lights he buys that are guaranteed for 10 years, Mr. Electric franchise owner Glenn Gallas says that he personally would not use residential-grade holiday lights for more than one season.
• DO consider having an electrician create a separate circuit for your outdoor-lighting displays. If you want a truly elaborate, professional-quality affair, a Mr. Electric service professional can install receptacles in strategic places to reduce the use of extension cords. Such a solution adds to the beauty of your displays and increases their safety.

"Ultimately, the goal is a beautiful, safe holiday-lighting display," says Gallas. Since visiting friends and relatives can put an unusual strain on a home's electrical system, holidays are often when problems can and do occur.

Freelance writer Aaron Dalton lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has written for Dwell, Popular Mechanics, Wired News, and the Los Angeles Times.