The holidays are on everyone’s mind, and I’m sure that I’m not alone in calling it my favorite time of the year. Now that Thanksgiving has passed, everyone is putting up their beautiful trees, and the more dedicated of us are stringing up those bright, colorful lights around their properties. So this is that time of year for me to talk electrical safety again. So, how many Christmas lights can you plug into that one receptacle on your lanai? Perhaps some of you are familiar with the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? (I just can’t resist the reference). Even though Clark Griswold’s intentions to make everything perfect for the holidays were good-natured and sweet, but his idea to turn his house into a Christmas light extravaganza that forced the local power company to switch on their auxiliary nuclear generator – not so much. Clark boasted that he had used 250 strands of lights with 100 bulbs in each one totaling a 25,000 bulb display inferno that only added to the disastrous holiday scenario that didn’t quite go as well as Clark had intended. Now, with proper electrical expertise and good planning, it’s possible to create such enormous light displays, but before you get ahead of yourself and create a situation where your circuit board is overwhelmed or you create unsafe electrical conditions in and around your home, keep in mind this: You can only put (3) 100’ strands of lights on each 15 amp plug – that’s it. Note: most of your receptacles are a minimum of 15 amps. It’s the safest way to go. Now if you do decide to go all out and plan out and extravagant holiday display, you might want to give me a call before you do that.
Happy Holidays from your Sanibel Air and Sanctuary Island Electric team!
As always thanks for reading,
Bryan
Bryan Hayes, along with his brother Todd, is a co-owner of a Sanibel Air Conditioning company on Sanibel, FL. They also own and operate an island-based electrical service company Sanctuary Island Electric, Inc. Bryan can be reached at Bryan@Sanibelair.com
