How To Decorate the Home Safely
The holidays are officially here! People invest in holiday decorations for the last two or three months of the year to help celebrate the seasons. While the decorations and holiday lighting help to make the mood festive, holiday decorations cause injuries and property loss every year, turning what should be a joyous occasion into a hassle.
Luckily, the risks posed by holiday decorations and lighting displays can be neutralized by taking a little extra time during installation. Here are some tips from local electrical professionals to help keep the holidays merry, bright, and safe.
Incandescent Lights vs. LED Holiday Lights
Many holiday and Christmas lighting displays are on the market now than ever before. During this season, many people buy the latest lighting to help keep their decorations up to date. Others may keep older decorations to maximize their holiday decorating budget. Regardless of the approach, holiday lighting options include incandescent and LED lighting.
Most holiday lighting available now is LED. Incandescent lighting is largely obsolete, but many homeowners still use it if they reuse decorations year after year. It is largely used simply because the owner doesn’t want to upgrade. It uses more energy but provides less light, and fewer options are available. Often, homeowners are pleasantly surprised when they upgrade to LED lighting and see the benefits for themselves.
LED holiday lights are the latest development in holiday decorations. They are cheap to manufacture and, thus, cheap to purchase. They use less power than incandescent lighting, meaning more strands can be strung together, and bills will be lower. Because of their versatility, more options are available to help every owner achieve their decorating goals.
Installing a Safe Holiday Display
The biggest threats posed by holiday lighting are fires and shocks. When holiday decorations fall into disrepair and are not properly inspected, electrical arcs can occur, and live voltage may escape the wiring insulation.
To protect against this scenario, all decorations should be inspected as they are pulled from storage and when they are installed. Owners should check for problems like:
- Exposed wiring
- Broken bulbs
- Missing ground prongs on plugs
- Visible damage to the wiring
Another thing to remember is to separate indoor and outdoor decorations. Outdoor decorations are designed to protect against moisture and weather, so indoor decorations should not be used in outdoor settings.
Remember Electrical Safety!
Inspecting holiday decorations will help to reduce the risks of electrical problems, but there are more considerations. When installing decorations, remember to:
- Spread the loads out to various circuits and outlets to prevent overloading
- Never plug multiple extension cords into each other
- Limit the number of lighting strands in a single chain
- Only plug into GFCI outlets for outdoor displays
- Test GFCI outlets before use
- Use timers to turn off displays overnight to reduce complications from overuse.
About All Services
All Services is the trusted local source for fast electrical service. Qualified teams handle a variety of residential and commercial electrical needs. Call today for electrical services in Crown Point, IN.
