Holiday Electrical Safety Tips

The holidays are one of the most festive, and therefore, most decorated times of year. It is during this brief period of time that we literally deck the halls with as many lights and decorations as we can stand. Unfortunately, the holiday season is also one of the busiest for firefighters. All the beautiful lights that you string across your home can also present a serious electrical hazard if the proper precautions are not taken. Before flipping the switch and showing off your hard work, make sure you have followed a few simple electrical safety tips and precautions. This will not only ensure that you remain safe from electrical shocks and fire, but also that your lighting display is built to last.

Holiday electrical safety tips to safeguard you and your family:

• If you use a real Christmas tree, make sure that you keep it watered the entire time that it is inside your home. When dry, these trees can go up in flames in seconds. By keeping it watered, you preserve its fresh look while reducing your chance of it becoming ignited by an electrical short or excessive heat.
• Before placing lights on your home, check each strand thoroughly for any damaged cords, frayed ends or loose connections.
• If you have older lights that do not have fused plugs, replace your old strings with new ones. Fused plugs add an additional layer of safety by preventing sparks in the event of a short circuit.
• To avoid any unwanted damage to your holiday lights during storage, store them in a tightly sealed container. This will help prevent any damage from water or rodents.
• Make sure that you replace all burned out bulbs with a bulb of the correct wattage.
• Never use tacks, nails or screws to hold your lights in place. Instead, use insulated hooks that will help prevent shorts.
• Elevate the plugs of any cords that are running across the ground. This will help keep them free of snow, water and debris that could cause damage and shorts.
• If you must run any extension cords across the ground, tape them in place to prevent people from tripping over them. When people trip over the cord, it not only presents an immediate falling danger, but also an increase in wear on your extension cord.
• Only buy lights that have been laboratory tested. You can typically find the UL listing on the outside of the box. This ensures that the lights have passed rigorous safety and performance standards.
• Always check the recommended usage for your lights. This means only using indoor lights for inside use and outdoor lights for outside use. Many of today’s lights are rated for both indoor and outdoor usage. Indoor only lights, however, have thinner insulation that is more easily damaged when exposed to the elements.
• Always turn off your lights whenever you are sleeping or not at home.
• Avoid overloading electrical circuits. This can lead to overheating and tripped breakers.
• Plug all outdoor lights into a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet. These outlets are designed to shut off the flow of power whenever a short is detected.

As a result of haphazard installation and ignoring many basic safety rules, the holidays often result in more fires than there normally are. This fact should not, however, stop you from decorating your home the way that you want to. With a little holiday electrical safety planning and following the above electrical safety tips and using a little common sense, you can avoid almost all electrical fires.  So be festive and decorate well, but make sure you do it safely so that you can enjoy your display for years to come.

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One of the best ways to improve the safety of your home and increase the life of your electronics is to make sure that your home is properly grounded. The definition according to the website eHow:

Electrical grounding is where a point in a circuit is at zero voltage. The point may or may not be connected to earth, though. A wire that is directly connected to earth is also at ground.

Ensuring your home is properly grounded can prevent electrical shock

For your home to be properly grounded, there must be a physical connection between the ground and your home’s electrical components. For the majority of your electrical devices and appliances, this is accomplished with the round third prong that your electrical cords often have installed. Whenever the system is properly grounded, this connection allows a safe pathway for any excess or misdirected electrical current. This can potentially save you from electrical fires and deadly electrical shock.

Common Electrical Grounding Issues

The areas that experience the most electrical grounding problems are large cities and suburban areas. This is simply because these more densely populated locations have a higher level of electrical demand, leading to an increase in issues. Electricians in large cities fight a constant battle with improper grounding, and the resulting problems that result from it. For example, whenever metal pipes or conduit come into contact with an exposed wire, it can lead to a potentially fatal electric shock to any humans or pets that touch them. For this reason, it is paramount that you make sure that your electrical system is both in safe condition and properly grounded.

The Risks of Improper Grounding

If your home is improperly grounded or not grounded at all, then you run the risk of many potentially dangerous problems. If you live in an older home, it is possible that your home is not grounded at all. Newer homes, as a result of increased safety regulations, are typically grounded properly. That being said, all your safely grounded system needs to be rendered completely ineffective is a few bad connections. For this reason, you should have your electrical system inspected regularly by a qualified, local electrician, especially if you believe that you may have an ungrounded or poorly grounded electrical system.

The greatest risks posed by an ungrounded electrical system are fire and electrical shock. Because electrical current always moves along the path of least resistance, you are directly at risk of being shocked if you are using an ungrounded device when it discharges excess electricity. In a fully grounded system, any excess or misdirected current is channeled into the ground connection and into the ground. It is very possible that you could end up becoming the ground connection if there is not one already in place. This could lead to serious injury or death.

In addition to the risks posed to you and all of the other people in your home, ungrounded electrical systems can be potentially hazardous to your electronics. This important safety feature takes the extra electricity away from your device, which can save your electronics from catastrophic damages and incremental wear and tear. As a result, your appliances last longer.

Get a Electrical Inspection of Your Home

Don’t take the risk. No matter how old your home is, you should consider having an electrical safety assessment on a regular basis in order to identify any potential or existing problems that could lead to an unsafe situation. This important step in home maintenance can keep you and your family safe for years to come.

When was the last time you had your home inspected for electrical issues?

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Old Murray Fuse Box by p.Gordon, on Flickr

As a rule, there are two main reasons to upgrade your electrical service: if it is unsafe, or if it is not big enough for your current electrical demand. In either case, an electrical service upgrade is very important to both your immediate safety and the future integrity of your entire electrical system. If your service is already unsafe, it is fairly obvious why this can be dangerous. Having a system that is not large enough to handle your daily demand, however, can lead to situations that are hazardous as well. A system that is too small typically results in overloaded circuits. This leads to tripped breakers, blown fuses and potentially dangerous shocks if these overloaded electrical circuits are not properly managed.

What Is Your Electrical Service?

Your electrical service, commonly called your electrical panel or breaker panel, provides an entry point for electricity to enter your home. Once the electricity reaches your home from your local utility company, your breaker panel serves as the distribution system that controls, maintains and distributes the electrical current to the many circuits in your home.

In addition to its role in distributing the power throughout your home, your electrical service also serves as your first line of protection against the dangerously high levels of electricity that are being delivered to your home. Each circuit is protected by a circuit breaker, or fuse if you live in an older home. Whenever electrical current becomes too erratic, or reaches unsafe levels, your breakers are designed to flip to the off position, which will no longer allow current to flow to that circuit. This can help prevent overheating, melting, fire and possible shocks.

Signs That Your Electrical Service Is Insufficient

Whenever your electrical service is too small, it can no longer provide the minimum amount of electricity that your home needs on a day-to-day basis. This often happens whenever you add more high-powered appliances or new electrical equipment to your home. The greatest sign that your home might need an electrical upgrade for this reason is frequently tripped circuit breakers. If you have recently added a room, installed central heating and air, renovated your kitchen, or added a hot tub or other power-hungry appliance, you should consult an electrician about also upgrading your electrical service. This could be an upgrade as simple as adding a new, dedicated circuit to your electrical panel, or performing a full service upgrade that will increase the amount of electricity that your electrical panel can actually bring into your home.

Signs That Your Electrical Service Is Unsafe

If you have recently moved into an older home, then you will want to have your electrical panel inspected both for safety and for sufficient supply. Newer electrical panels are installed with many built-in safety features. Many older electrical panels, unfortunately, are not as safe as their modern counterparts. The most common type of outdated electrical service is the fuse box. Other known unsafe electrical panels include Zinsco electrical panels, Pushmatic electric panels and electrical panels built by Federal Pacific Electric Company.

A fuse box utilizes fuses to halt the flow of electricity, rather than a circuit breaker. They accomplish this with the help of a metal filament that is designed to fail and break whenever the electrical current flowing through the fuse reaches a certain level. This will stop the electricity from continuing through that particular circuit. One of the biggest dangers posed by fuse boxes is the temptation to replace blown fuses with oversized replacements. While this may provide you with a greater gap between replacements, it can lead to an overloaded circuit. Most fuse boxes were designed to handle between 30 and 60 amps of power, rather than the 100-200 amps that the average household requires today. This makes oversizing or attempting to bypass a fuse especially hazardous. Your best bet is to upgrade your electrical service, if you live in a home that still has fuses.

Does Your Home Need an Electrical Service Upgrade?

Whether you require an electrical service upgrade due to an undersized electrical service, or one that is fundamentally unsafe, it is important to remember that the safety of both your home, you family and your valuable electronics are on the line. An overloaded electrical system can be just as dangerous as one that has known defects. If you believe that your electrical service may be unsafe or undersized, don’t hesitate to contact your electrician to come check it out.

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GFCI Outlet in Bathroom

GFCI stands for Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, an electrical device that offers protection against electrical shock. GFCI protection can be provided:

• At the outlet using a GFCI receptacle
• At the distribution panel through a GFCI circuit breaker which protects all outlets on the circuit it controls
• Through a portable device where installing a GFCI outlet is not practical (i.e. for use on outdoor electrical tools)

As a homeowner, the electrical codes keep changing to increase protection for you and your family. You should make sure your home has the proper protection, especially if it was built more than 25 years ago. Experts estimate that over 60% of all deaths from electric shock could be prevented if Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters were installed.

Where to install GFCI protection

GFCI Breaker
slworking2 via photo pin cc

GFCI protection should be installed in areas where known electrical shock hazards exist due to its proximity to water or moisture such as outdoor outlets and fixtures, swimming pools, saunas and hot tubs, kitchens, basements, bathrooms and garages.

It is also recommended that you install GFCI protection wherever you operate electrically-powered garden equipment (mower, hedge trimmer, edger, etc.) or electric tools (drills, saws, sanders, etc.) for do-it-yourself work in and around the house.

Test your GFCI protection regularly

Your GFCI outlet are designed to allow for safe and easy testing that you can do. Initially, your electrician should test all receptacles and breakers when he installs them to make sure they are working properly. After that, you should test them monthly to make sure they are working properly and are providing protection from fatal shock.

Testing is easy!

• Plug a lamp into the outlet and turn the light on.
• Press the TEST button (black button above). This should cause the RESET button (red button above) to pop out and the light should turn off.
• Press the RESET button to restore power to the outlet

Signs that your outlet needs replacing:

• If your RESET button pops out but the light does not turn off, the GFCI has been improperly wired.
• If your RESET button does not pop out, the GFCI is defective and should be replaced.

In both cases, contact a qualified, licensed electrician to correct or replace your outlets.

More information on GFCI can be found in the GFCI Fact Sheet published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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Is your home electrically safe?

Your home’s electrical service is one area that homeowners should avoid doing it yourself. Electricity is a powerful tool that used properly gives us the quality of life we’ve come to enjoy. But even a small mistake when wiring or not understanding the latest electrical codes for your state, could cause a serious situation.

According to the US Fire Administration, “electrical fires in our homes claim the lives of 280 Americans each year and injure 1,000 more. Some of these fires are caused by electrical system failures, but many more are caused by incorrectly installed wiring and overloaded circuits and extension cords.”

Here are 10 electrical safety tips to help homeowners keep their homes safe:

• Routinely check your electrical appliances for cuts and breaks in their cords. Err on the side of caution and replace any appliance that has a bad cord, overheats, shorts out or gives off smoke or sparks. In addition, if a cord has 3-prongs, don’t remove the extra prong. The third prong is necessary to ground the appliance to prevent electrical shocks.
• Ensure your home is equipped with GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlets near any areas that are close to water such as your kitchen area, bathrooms, laundry room, the garage or outdoor circuits. A GFCI outlet will automatically disconnect power when a plugged in electric appliance comes in contact with water or begins to “leak” electricity. These types of outlets can protect you and your family from fatal electrical shocks.
• Examine your electrical cords periodically and discard any which are frayed or do not fit snugly into an outlet. Never secure a cord in place with staples and prevent overheating by not running them under furniture or carpeting, behind baseboards or near baseboard heating.
• Never overload extension cords or wall sockets with too many appliances. If you need more electrical outlets, have them installed. It’s worth the money to have it done correctly and to code.
• Periodically check your outlets and switches to see if they are hot to the touch. If so, get a licensed electrician to come and do a safety check on your entire electrical system. Wiring does wear out which can cause electrical fires to start in the walls and burn for some time before they become obvious. The electrical industry is always designing newer and better materials that increase the safety of your home.
• Never touch electrical appliances or switches with wet hands, ensure electrical appliances in your bathroom do not fall into water and keep extension cords and portable appliances away from the bath or pool.
• No wiring should be exposed from behind outlet and switch cover plates. Make sure your outlets have outlet covers throughout the entire house including the basement and garage. Replace cracked or broken covers and then cover unused outlets with plastic plugs. This is one area the homeowner can safely do it yourself and protect your children and pets from accidentally touching live wires.
• Never try to extinguish an electrical fire with water. Make sure you have approved fire extinguishers in your kitchen, garage and laundry room and know how to use them. Make sure everyone in the family knows how to manually turn off the electricity if needed.
• Never use bulbs that have higher wattage than recommend for the lamp or light fixture and take caution when using halogen lamps. These lamps operate at high temperatures and can create a fire hazard so keep them away from curtains, rugs or other furnishings that are flammable.
• If fuses blow, circuit breakers trip, switches get hot or people are shocked, something is wrong. Don’t put off getting a reputable licensed electrician to come fix the problem.

Following these simple guidelines will help keep your family safe. And although better safety standards have reduced electrical hazards that cause deaths, injuries and property damage, the Electrical Safety Foundation International reminds us that good safety habits are still the best prevention against electrical hazards.

What’s your tip for keeping your home electrically safe?

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