Decorating your Raleigh home, yard or Christmas tree with holiday lights this year? Blinking lights may help deck the halls, but they aren’t always perfectly safe. Keep your home and family safe from electrical hazards with these tips, found on doityourself.com, and remember, if you have a question about electrical wiring, repair, safety and more, call the dependable Raleigh electricians at Progressive Electrical Service!

• Before you decorate your home with strings of lights, inspect each set and make sure it’s not damaged. If it is – don’t use it!
• Replacing bulbs? Make sure the replacement is the same wattage as the original.
• Use bulbs that come with fuses attached to the plugs.
• Remember to only insert or remove bulbs when that string of lights is unplugged from the outlet.
• Use outdoor holiday lights outside, use indoor holiday lights inside.
• Upgrade from your old, overheating strings of lights to new lights that stay cooler longer.
• Use extension cords when necessary; don’t stretch the strings of lights, which can become frayed, damaged and dangerous.
• Never use more than three strings of lights per extension cord. Overloading an outlet can be very dangerous!
• Does your family favor a fake Christmas tree? If it’s metallic, don’t use electric holiday lights to decorate it, which could lead to electric shock.
• Every electrical holiday decoration (especially the ones outside) needs to be plugged into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI).
• Don’t position electrical cables in precarious ways like under rugs or in high-traffic areas in your home.
• Turn holiday lights on only when you’re at home – this will also conserve energy and help you save on your electricity bill!
• Blow a fuse? Replace it only using those provided with the holiday lights.
• Use an outlet power breaker strip to avoid accidents caused by overloaded electrical outlets.
• You know that rule about keeping electrical cords away from moisture (like snow)? It applies to holiday stringed lights too!

There’s nothing like an electrical emergency to dampen the holiday mood, so keep these safety measures in mind as you’re decorating.