Keep Your Holiday Lights Safe: Extension Cord Best Practices
Lights are an enduring symbol of the festive season. Whether it’s a thematic Christmas tree or the iconic Santa Claus, there’s no better way to capture the spirit of the occasion than to incorporate warm lighting into your space.
Holiday lights symbolize enlightenment and new beginnings. Certain cultures also use lights to tap into divine energy and ward off evil spirits that could potentially spoil the festivities.
Now, for each holiday light, an extension cord is paramount. And while you can get your hands on premium cords from a reputable electrical outlet, the secret to proper lighting lies in the safe deployment of these cables.
In this blog, we’ll highlight the best practices while using extension cords for holiday lighting.
1. Pick an Outdoor Extension Cord
Hanging Christmas lights outdoors is an excellent way to spread positive vibes through the neighborhood. However, that may also require placing extension cords in the patio, deck, or wherever you choose to display the lights.
To ensure your holiday lights brave the chilly (and often wet) outdoor conditions, it’s imperative to choose an extension cord rated for the outdoors. Check the cable’s packaging for the initial SOOW. SOOW cables are resilient against sunlight, water, oil spillage, and other harsh weather elements.
2. Match an Extension Cord With the Right Lighting Fixtures
Holiday lights consume less power than heavy-duty home appliances, such as refrigerators and lawnmowers. But that doesn’t mean you can connect them to any cable.
When shopping for the best extension cord for your holiday lights, pick a cable with a similar or higher amperage and voltage as the lighting systems you intend to use it with. For instance, a 20 amp extension cord should only be plugged into lights that draw up to 20 amperes. This helps safeguard the cord and the connected lights from electrical malfunctions, such as short circuits and explosions.
3. Check The Extension Cord’s Gauge Rating
Few homeowners can grasp the concept of amperage and voltage. Therefore, a more reliable way to determine a cable’s suitability for your Christmas lights is to check its gauge ratings.
The gauge measures the diameter of extension cord conductors. The lower the rating, the more reliable the cable is. For instance, a 10 gauge extension cord handles current better than a 12-gauge or 14-gauge cable.
4. Keep the Extension Cord Dry
The fact that an extension cord is labeled ‘SOOW’ or ‘all-weather’ doesn’t make it 100% resilient against the elements.
To preserve the integrity of your holiday lights, keeping the extension cord dry at all times is important. Place the cable away from puddles, snow, or damp soil.
5. Do Not Slip Cords Through Door or Window Openings
It’s tempting to run an outdoor extension cord through door or window openings in a bid to shorten the distance from an interior wall socket to the patio where your holiday lighting is on display.
However, this could cause the cable’s insulation material to fray and expose the conductor wires, leading to shocks or electrocution.
6. Do Not Overload an Extension Cord
This is a no-brainer. Plugging too many lights into an extension cord can create a nasty explosion and ruin your holiday.
To avoid extension cord overload, ensure the cable’s voltage rating exceeds the cumulative voltage requirements of all the lighting fixtures you plan to plug into concurrently.
7. Do Not Hang Your Holiday Lights Using Sharp Objects
Never hang holiday lights with nails or staples. These objects could pierce the strands and create an intended current pathway, leading to shocks.
Instead, wrap the lights around trees or outdoor posts. If you must add any quirky decorations, use blunt plastic holders.
8. Avoid Tripping Hazards
Electrical cables can pose severe tripping hazards if left strewn all over the place. So, it’s important to understand how to organize extension cords before using them for holiday lighting.First, elevate light strands off the ground and keep them from areas with high foot traffic. If you must use longer cables, tie them with a clip to prevent entanglements.
9. Turn Holiday Lights Off Overnight
Having your Christmas tree glittering through the night is a great idea, except that it can result in overheating. Instead, turn off the lights a few hours a day. This helps cool down the system and conserve energy.
If you’re using extension cords with multiple outlets and with a switch for each socket, you could leverage the switches to power down specific lights. This innovative design gives you greater control over your holiday lighting system.
10. Don’t Forget Safety Specs
There are plenty of safety specs that can optimize your extension cord’s performance, including a surge protector and GFCI outlet wiring. Short for ground fault circuit interrupter, GFCI is a safety device commonly installed in electrical outlets to cut power supply when it detects an abnormal current path. Using a GFCI extension cord guards against shocks and electrocutions, especially in wet conditions.
Besides, consider a flat plug extension cord over the more common rounded ones. Due to their flat design, flat-plug cables keep your space tidy by letting you inch appliances closer to the wall socket without damaging the plugs. This helps to preserve the sensitive plugs.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, an extension cord’s efficiency depends primarily on cable quality, its suitability for the intended application, and safe usage. Hopefully, this blog provided you with practical pointers on how to safely power your holiday lights using the best extension cords.