Holiday Lighting Safety Tips From Local Electricians in Minot

It gets dark before five in Minot come December, so the lights go up early and stay on late. That's half the fun of the season here. It's also why our phones start ringing around mid-November with the same few problems: a breaker that trips halfway through hanging the lights, an outdoor outlet that won't work, a strand that's warm to the touch.

Most of those calls trace back to a handful of habits that are easy to change. Here's what we tell people who ask how to light up the house without turning the holidays into an emergency.

Inspect Every Strand Before It Goes Up

Pull the lights out of the box and look them over in good light. Cracked sockets, frayed cords, bare copper, loose bulb connections: if you see any of those, the strand goes in the trash. Not the repair pile. New lights are cheap compared to what a damaged strand can cost you.

Extension cords get the same treatment. Any cord you use outside needs to be marked for outdoor use, and you should never plug one cord into another. If you need more reach, buy the right length.

Know How Many Strands You Can Chain Together

Check the tag on your lights. It tells you how many sets can connect end to end. The general guidance from the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) is no more than three strands of incandescent lights linked together. LEDs draw far less power, so you can usually chain more, but the label makes that call. A guess doesn't.

Outdoor Lights Belong on GFCI Outlets

This is the one we care about most. Snow melts, sleet freezes, and cords end up lying in slush. A GFCI outlet cuts power in a fraction of a second if current starts leaking where it shouldn't, and that's the difference between a tripped outlet and a shock.

Press the test button before you plug anything in. If it doesn't trip, or it won't reset, that outlet needs replacing. If your outdoor outlets aren't GFCI protected at all, that's a quick upgrade and one local electricians handle all the time. A portable outdoor GFCI works as a stopgap until then.

Give Your Circuits Some Room

Think about what lands on the same few circuits in a lot of Minot homes in December. The tree, the inflatable yard display, the kitchen running full tilt for a family dinner, and a space heater in the garage. Older homes feel that more, since the wiring was planned for a lighter load than we use now.

If a breaker trips once, spread the load around and see what happens. If it trips again, stop resetting it. That breaker is telling you something, and it's cheaper to listen in November than in the middle of a cold snap.

Watch the Tree

According to the National Fire Protection Association, US fire departments responded to an average of 143 home fires per year that started with Christmas trees between 2020 and 2024. Electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in about two in five of them.

Keep the tree at least three feet from heat sources like vents, fireplaces, and candles. Water a fresh tree every day, because a dry one goes up fast. And turn the lights off when you leave the house or go to bed. A timer makes that automatic, and for outdoor lights, use one rated for outdoor use.

Ladders and Power Lines

Outdoor decorating brings its own risks. Wood and fiberglass ladders are safer than metal, since metal conducts electricity. ESFI also recommends keeping yourself and your equipment at least 10 feet from power lines, which matters if you're stringing lights on a tall tree near the service drop.

Skip the nails and staples too. They damage the cord insulation. Clips made for holiday lights cost very little and protect the wire.

Protect What's Plugged In

The holidays add a lot of electronics to a house. Gaming systems, new TVs, and a few extra chargers all show up at once. A whole-home surge protector installed at your main panel covers all of it at the same time, which beats trusting a row of power strips.

When to Call Local Electricians

Some things aren't worth troubleshooting on your own. Call us if you notice:

• Lights that flicker when the problem isn't a loose bulb

• An outlet or plug that feels warm

• Buzzing or crackling from an outlet or the panel

• A breaker that keeps tripping after you've reduced the load

  
  

If you see smoke or smell something burning, get everyone out and call 911 first. Call us after.

Planning something bigger, like permanent outdoor outlets or a lighting setup you'd rather not restring every year? Get it scheduled before the ground freezes and the weather turns. We'd much rather walk your outlets and panel on a quiet October afternoon than on a December night when the whole display goes dark.

If you're looking for local electricians in Minot who will check things over before the lights go up, give us a call.