HELP! My Holiday Lights Won’t Turn On!
One of our most common calls we receive as the holidays approach is for troubleshooting and repairing outdoor outlets that aren’t working. Here are some tips to help you figure out if you need an electrician or not.
Most homes have special outlets that detect the water and kill the power. They’re called GFCI outlets, and they look a little different from normal outlets. You’re looking for an outlet that is a rectangular shape with two buttons on it, “Test” and “Reset” – the Reset button will be popped out, and if you push it back in it will restore the power. However, if the weather is wet and there is still water getting into your electrical connections, the outlet might instantly trip again, so unplug your lights before resetting.
How to find the right outlet: If your house was built after 2000, just walk around the outside and check all your outdoor outlets. In homes built during the late 80s through the 90s, the GFCI could be in one of your bathrooms, or right next to your breaker box. Every once in a while it will be in the garage.
The main thing you need to know is that a GFCI outlet can protect other non-GFCI outlets “downstream” so where you plug your lights in won’t necessarily be where you end up resetting to restore power. This can be frustrating, because if you are using more than one of these outlet locations at the same time, and the GFCI trips, you won’t be able to easily identify the cause. Many of our clients ask us rewire these spots so each location has its own dedicated GFCI that doesn’t cut power to the rest of the circuit when it trips.
The other thing you need to know is that these are considered life safety devices. They keep you safe where water and electricity could potentially interact, including kitchens, bathrooms, unfinished basements, garages, and outside, so you should occasionally press the test buttons to make sure they’re functioning properly, because a GFCI can wear out or be damaged by a power surge that stops its safety features from functioning properly, or at all.
If none of the above troubleshooting steps resolves your issue, it’s time to call in the experts. We will find the root cause and resolve it in no time, so Santa and his reindeer will have no trouble finding your home!
