This time of year are marked by beautiful, colorful strings of lights, both indoors and outside! Unfortunately, hundreds of housefires per year are caused by faulty, ill-maintained, or improperly used holiday lights. Here is a checklist to go through before putting up your lights this holiday season!
Check the Strings - Check last years lights for frayed, cracked, or exposed wires as well as broken sockets. These are huge fire hazard. If your has these, throw them away.
Multiple Strings - Usually, the limit is three strings but make sure you look at the instructions that came with your set.
Daisy Chaining and Single Sockets - It is awesome that you want to be able to see your house, tree, or other decorations from space. Just be sure to spread the electrical load across several sockets on different breakers. Putting that entire electrical load across one or two sockets is a leading cause of house fires during the holiday season.
Replace bulbs When They Fail - You may not notice right away but when you do notice a bad bulb replace it as soon as possible. Depending on the type, empty or non-working sockets can cause an entire string to overheat.
Outdoor lights belong outside, indoor lights belong inside - This seems like a no-brainer but many people do not realize that indoor and outdoor lights are not interchangeable. Exterior lights are weather-resistant, tougher, and also get hotter. Indoor lights are cooler but are not weather resistant.
Do NOT Nail or Staple Strings - Please do not use nails or staples to hang lights. Nails and staples are metal, if they accidentally cut through the wire insulation you have just created an extreme fire hazard.
Take Down Within 90 Days - Remember that even outdoor lights are not meant to be outside for forever. The elements will produce quite a bit of wear and tear and that cute squirrel you always see may just decide to nibble on the wires one time too many.
Try Not to Leave Them on Unattended - Turn off the lights when you go to sleep, or leave the house. If something does go wrong and a fire starts, you will want as much notice as possible to take proactive measures to limit the damage to your house and, more importantly, to your family.
Store Lights Properly - So now the holidays are over and you can just scrunch your lights up and put them in that tiny box, right? Not quite, tangled lights can lead to damaged chords and broken sockets. A good method is to coil the string loosely around a piece of cardboard. If you keep the bulbs on the string, wrap it again in a blanket, bubblewrap, or similar and then store in a sturdy container. This will help your lights last longer while still remaining safe to use
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