Top Tips For A Safe Christmas From Your Exeter Electricians

Ho ho ho! Tis the season for outdoor lights, lit-up Christmas trees and lots of tasty treats being cooked in the oven in homes across Devon. This time of year is frantically busy, lots of parties, guests and family activities, all which come with an increased use of electrics! 

Our team of Exeter electricians are here to share some simple tips to help keep your home and electrics safe during this festive season with our fire & security tips. 

Exeter Electricians – Christmas Light Tips

When you’re getting ready to decorate your home, whether hanging lights on the Christmas tree, around your hallway, on your roof, or in your garden, it is always important to thoroughly inspect and test your Christmas lights before decorating. 

As festive lights are often only used once a year, they can be stored in less than ideal conditions in between that time, either not in their original packaging, in a tight bundle or damp locations. Before hanging your lights up, make sure to safety check for the following:

• • Split, broken or damaged wires 

• • Scorched plugs

• • Damaged or flickering lights bulbs 

If left unattended, damaged Christmas lights could lead to a potentially serious injury or accident, to an individual or on a larger scale. If you can fix any burned-out lights or broken bulbs, do so before hanging the decorations to double check they work correctly.

If you’re not already using LED lights, this year should be the time when you switch to the safer LED bulbs, not only are they cheaper to run, but they have a lower fire risk than older lights. 

While it may seem nice to come home to your house lit up in decorations, it is important to remember to turn off all Christmas lights when you’re not at home. Unattended Christmas lights which are left on for too long could cause the bulbs or the sockets to overheat and can potentially lead to an electrical fire, especially if those lights are decorating a real Christmas tree! 

Christmas Trees 

While you may prefer a real tree for that festive scent, when it comes to your electrics, a real tree could be the last thing you want as they can catch alight quicker than their fire-retardant, artificial tree cousins! 

Our team of Datel Electrical Exeter electricians will always recommend opting for a fake tree if you’re planning on coating them in brightly coloured lights! However, if you want to stick with a real tree, we recommend following these tips:

• • Keep it well watered, do not let your real tree dry out. Typically real Christmas trees need on average 1 litre of water a day. 

• • Do not spray any flammable aerosols on them, this is just asking for trouble! (For example, hairspray to stop the needles falling off, or white Christmas snow spray) 

• • Keep your tree away from heat sources, including log burners, fires and portable heating units 

• • Make sure your lights are safe and suitable for real trees (this information should be readily available on the packaging).

Have A Safe Christmas With Exeter Electricians – Datel Electrical

Here at Datel Electrical, we want to make sure that all of our customers have a safe and wonderful Christmas this year, filled with plenty of love, laughter and delicious treats. This is why our team of Exeter electricians want to make sure your electrics are working at the highest standard.
If you are experiencing electrical issues this year in your domestic or commercial property, our emergency call-out electricians are on-hand 24/7 throughout the festive season. Contact us today at 01803 874074 or email us at info@datelelectrical.co.uk.