Tag: Maintaining

Christmas is the season to be merry and celebrate with your friends and family. While there are many things to help you get into the spirit, nothing says Christmas quite like decorating your house with lights.

Chances are, your work keeps you busy enough to be unable to decorate your house year after year. Putting up the lights and decorations as soon as your day off work starts can be challenging. Not to mention the hours spent detangling the lights, the aftermath of which is only to take off everything and pack it back for a year, making all your rest disappear just before you start work.

If you do not like this hassle, you can choose to leave up your Christmas lights and decorations. However, with this, you will have to choose your decorations wisely. It is suggested to find and install permanent Christmas lights Calgary for an all-year-round vibe.

These Christmas lights can serve as outdoor or party lighting after the Christmas season. Moreover, if you turn them off, no one will notice the existence of these lights. This is bound to save you a lot of time and energy, not to mention their cost-effectiveness through the years.

Once you buy permanent Christmans LEDs, you will not have to spend your precious holiday time detangling or packing up the lights. When maintained properly, they have a long life of around 7-8 years or longer.

Tips to Maintain Your Christmas Lights

Christmas LED lights are generally put along the edges of your house and rooftop, so they are not quite visible when turned off. These can be easily left up on the house all through the year. Providing an option of different colors, personalized lighting, and not-too-extravagant decorations, these lights can serve as a general decoration for a day off, a house party, or any other event.

These can also be used as fairy lights indoors, adding a sense of warmth and aesthetic to your interiors. However, like any other appliance you may have, these require regular maintenance to help elongate their life. The following tips can help maintain your Christmas lights beyond the holiday season:

1. Invest in the Right Light

Ensure that the light you buy is weather-proof and meant for long-term use. Buy quality lights that have a strong connection and safe wiring. If you need help selecting or installing them, it is best to consult your electrician and take their expert advice.

They should be compatible with your home’s voltage supply and the outlet to which you plan to connect them. Moreover, the switch for the lights should be in easy access, so you can turn them on or off as required.

Buy lights for outdoor and indoor decorations separately, making sure they are compatible with the purpose you intend to use them for.

2. Check for Damage

You should check your led lights for broken or missing bulbs and replace them immediately to prevent electric shock or fire. Perform this maintenance monthly or after any episode of high winds.

3. Choose the Right Cord

Make sure you buy an outdoor extension cord that can withstand extreme environments and is waterproof or water-resistant to a large extent. If you use indoor extension cords, chances are that they will falter at cold temperatures and even cause short-circuiting with a little bit of rain.

Moreover, ensure that you place the cord on the wall, away from the ground, soil, or puddles, and under a shade to avoid rain or snow from affecting it. You can also buy a cord protector to help keep the cord dry and safe, preventing electrocution.

4. Re-Fasten Them

Check the lights for any loose areas and re-attach them to the frame. Any loose strip of LED can cause a fire hazard. Moreover, if the strip is near the ground, there are chances that someone might trip on it and get injured. It is best to use electrical tape instead of screws and hooks to fix them.

The same should be done for extension cords. Use anchoring pins or staples to secure the cable to the sides to prevent tripping.

5. Turn Them off Nightly

Chances are that you will only use your lights occasionally. However, even if you choose to, turn them off during the night when unnecessary. Keeping them on for an extended period can cause wear and tear or overheating, causing them to falter.

6. Avoid Trees

If you plan to keep your Christmas lights up beyond the holiday season, it is best to steer away from trees and grass, as the lights can overheat and cause a fire hazard for such living things.

7. Use GFCI

It is best to plug your outdoor lights into ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) to protect you against short circuits and electrical fire hazards. Additionally, avoid overloading your power outlets and extension cords. Read the respective labels to know the power limit that they can supply.

8. Invest in a Wooden Ladder

You will need a ladder to reach your house’s exterior and rooftop to perform routine checks and maintenance. However, metal ladders can conduct electricity, increasing the risk of electrical shocks. Therefore it is best to keep a wooden or fiberglass ladder.

How to Care For Non-permanent Lights

If you cannot invest in permanent lights and want to elongate the life of your traditional incandescent bulbs, it is vital to perform their maintenance as well. It is recommended to carefully take down the lights and wrap them on a piece of cardboard to help avoid tangling.

Store them safely in a box, placed somewhere they don’t have to be moved frequently to avoid damage. When you need to put them up again, open them, check for damaged bulbs, replace them, and hang them as you would.

Conclusion

Christmas lights can bring around a sense of warmth and happiness, irrespective of when you use them. Therefore, keeping your lights up all year round is a great option. By performing routine checks and maintenance, you can easily forego the hassle of removing and putting up the lights for years to come.