As the holiday season rolls back around, many of us homeowners bring extra warmth to the season by lighting up the exterior of our homes. While providing this festive cheer can be a great way to uplift your spirits, it can also be dangerous if not done correctly. Plugging in too many decorations and adding appliances all at once can overload your electrical circuits. Below, we’ll help you properly plan your electrical usage to greatly minimize your risk of experiencing any electrical malfunction over the holiday season.
Know Your Limits
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that every electrical circuit has a limit. Most household circuits have a safe handling range of between 15 and 20 amps. This translates to roughly 1,500 to 1,800 watts. You can easily ensure you’re not overloading your circuits by adding up the wattage of all your lights and other devices on that circuit.
Stay in a Safe Operating Range
Once you know the limits of your electrical circuit, it’s important to calculate a safe operating range. You never want to plug in so many items that they equal the total capacity of that circuit. Rather, you want to operate at a maximum of 80% of the circuit’s total capacity. That means that if you have a 15-amp circuit capable of handling 1,800 watts, you should only be using enough items that reach a maximum of 1,440 watts.
Calculate Your Lighting Load
Fortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to calculating your holiday lighting load. Every home’s lighting setup is different from the next and will have a different load capacity. One of the easiest ways to determine the specific load of a particular light strand or other decoration is to check its packaging.
You’ll typically find that a string of 100 LED mini lights uses about five to 10 watts, while a string of 100 incandescent mini lights can use 40 watts or more. Once you understand the load for each strand, you’ll want to multiply that by the number of strands that you’ll be using. For example, if you’ll be using 10 strands of 100 LED mini lights, you can expect a wattage draw of between 50 and 100.
Spread Out the Load
Your home has multiple electrical circuits. This allows you the ability to spread out all the electronics you want to plug in so that you’re not drawing too much power on one circuit. By using the calculations, we went over above, you can figure out how many different holiday lighting strands and other light-up figurines and inflatables you can plug into each circuit without overloading it.
Keep in mind that you’ll also need to think about all the regular items you have plugged into that circuit, like your lamps and television. If you’re not sure about everything that’s connected to a particular circuit, it can be helpful to shut off the breaker for that electrical circuit and test different outlets to figure out what is on it.
Use Appropriate Power Strips and Extension Cords
Just as you need to ensure each electrical circuit can operate safely for all the items you want to plug into it, you need to make sure you’re selecting power strips and extension cords that can also handle that load. All extension cords will have an amperage rating that will tell you the maximum load they can handle. If you try to draw more electricity than the cord is rated for, it’s likely to overheat.
Always have an extension cord that’s rated for higher than what you expect to draw from the electrical circuit. Additionally, avoid plugging multiple extension cords into one another, as this will increase your risk of experiencing an electrical fire. Make sure that you’re using outdoor-rated extension cords and power strips when decorating outside, as these are specifically designed to handle the excessive UV exposure and moisture. Furthermore, ensure any power strip you purchase has a built-in surge protector to help protect all the items you’re plugging into it from power surges.
Follow Manufacturer Recommendations
Most often, every light set or decoration that you purchase nowadays comes with manufacturer instructions on the box. This will reveal information like the maximum number of connections you can have when stringing multiple lighting sets together. Most manufacturers recommend stringing between three and five strands of incandescent lights, while many allow for 10 or more LED lights to be strung together.
Consider Upgrading to LED Lighting
If you notice that your load calculations are consistently above where they need to be to safely operate your electrical circuits, it can be a bit frustrating. One of the easiest upgrades you can make to reduce your electrical demand is to upgrade from incandescent to LED holiday lighting. LED lights use up to 90% less energy than their traditional incandescent counterparts. This means you can use more LED lighting than you can when lighting the same area with incandescent lighting.
Know the Warning Signs of an Overload
While you can do your best to prevent electrical overloads when putting up your holiday lighting, there is a possibility that one could happen. Being mindful of the warning signs of an electrical overload can allow you to address the problem quickly before it turns into a bigger issue, like an electrical fire.
One of the most obvious signs of an overload is flickering or dimming lights. If your circuit breaker frequently trips, it’s another key indicator that it’s overloaded. The whiff of a slight burning smell near your electrical outlets and your extension cords being hot to the touch also signal an overload. It’s best to shut off the circuit breakers when you experience these issues and unplug the items you have on them.
Bonus Safety Tips
Apart from ensuring that you’re not overloading your electrical circuits when doing your holiday decorating, there are some other bonus safety tips that you can implement to keep your home as safe as possible. Always opt for keeping any electrical cords off your walkways or driveways. This not only creates a tripping hazard but can also increase the risk of the cord getting damaged.
Opt for using weatherproof covers for your outdoor outlets and make sure to test your GFCI outlets routinely to verify they’re working correctly. You may want to consider installing a whole-home surge protector to protect all your holiday lighting from potential power surges that could cause permanent damage.
It’s best practice to turn off your decorations overnight or when you’re away from your home. You can use smart plugs or timers to make this happen automatically. If your existing electrical panel is only rated for 100 amps, consider upgrading to a more modern 200 to 250-amp electrical panel.
Expert Electrical Inspection Services
F.F. Hitchcock Plumbing, Heating & Cooling offers expert electrical inspection services for the Cheshire, CT, area. We can also assist with all your electrical installation, repair, and replacement needs. Call our office today to schedule your next service consultation with one of our helpful electricians.
