Water, Rain and Christmas Lights

We can't remember the last time we had so much rain in December. Rain and water is a good thing, most of the time. However, Christmas Lights do not like them, or better yet, Electricity does not like them. We have had quite a bit of service calls for lights going out during the raining nights and wanted to bring to your attention why this is happening.

Most newer homes have a GFI box, which is the small outlet with the reset and test buttons on them. These boxes are installed on the exterior of homes by law. A GFI protects against fires and other electrical problems by shutting off if moisture gets near the electrical outlet. If too much rain gets the box wet, the Christmas lights will go out. Sometimes a homeowner will get lucky and the GFI boxes will not shut off.

We wish there was an easy or inexpensive solution to this problem, but there is not. The best way to prevent lights from going out is to have a dedicated circuit installed on your home that is just for Christmas lights. This can typically be done for around $250 in most cases. The new circuit can hopefully be installed where it is protected from rain and help avoid the GFI boxes "tripping."

If your lights go out during the Christmas season and we have installed the lights, please email or call us. We typically will come the next business day to fix the lights. To save time, you can also push the reset button on your electrical outlet and that should do the trick!

Christmas Decor by Hallco

888-95-DECOR

Serving Frederick, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Potomac, the D.C. Metro and all of Howard County Maryland, Hallco Enterprises is your trusted residential and commercial painting contractor for planning painting related home improvement, interior painting, exterior painting, color selection, painting ideas, and power washing.