Most everyone looks forward to the holiday season and all the fun times that come with it. However, during your preparations and merry festivities, you might forget about electrical safety at home. Many homeowners have sadly had their holidays cut short by fires. The National Fire Protection Association estimates that nearly 860 home fires break out yearly because of electrical holiday lighting. To ensure that your holiday remains the wonderful time of the year, follow these four important electrical safety tips.
Check Your Electrical Decorations
Many holiday electrical safety tips pertain to Christmas lights. Before you even set up your holiday decorations, you must check them for damage. Any cracks or bare wires can be hazardous and cause a serious electrical fire or shock, so it’s safer to get new lights to replace them.
When you begin to hang lights, be mindful never to connect more than three strings of incandescent lights together — doing so can blow a fuse and cause the wires to overheat. Also, always turn off your holiday lights before you go to sleep. Leaving them on too long can make them very hot and a potential fire hazard.
Be Cautious With Extension Cords and Outlets
When decorating your home for the holidays, you must also pay attention to the extension cords you use. While you may want to use lots of lights to transform your front yard into a winter wonderland, overloading your extension cords can cause shocks and fires. In fact, faulty extension cords are known for causing numerous house fires every year and many injuries. Therefore, ensuring your extension cords are properly rated and not overloaded is one of the most important safety tips to remember.
Don’t Neglect Your Interior Cords
Electrical safety at home doesn’t end outside — there are many indoor electrical hazards you’ll also want to keep an eye out for. For example, foot traffic can increase during the holidays. Guests may trip over electrical cords, lamps, and other electrical appliances.
As a result, it’s best to move your cords out of the way so that nobody stumbles over them and no young children or pets play with them. However, you should never hide them under carpets or furniture, as this can lead cords to overheat more easily.
Prevent Christmas Tree Fires
Did you know that around 210 fires each year are caused by Christmas trees? This means that one of the most essential holiday electrical safety tips is to treat your beloved tree with care. Don’t position it near a fireplace, radiator, or other heat sources. Additionally, Christmas trees shouldn’t be placed close to electrical outlets either.
While properly watering your Christmas tree might not seem like one of the important holiday electrical safety tips, it absolutely is. Hydrating Christmas trees will do more than keep them beautiful throughout the season but will also prevent them from becoming dry and withered. Dry trees can be a major fire hazard, so water your tree often throughout the season.
Need An Electrician This Holiday Season? Call A-1 Electric!
If you do require the assistance of an emergency electrician in Philadelphia, you can always count on A-1 Electric. Our certified electrical underwriting will handle any inspections you need during the holidays as well. For more information and to schedule your appointment, give us a call today!
