Plan a Holiday Display Your Electrical System Can Handle
Most holiday breaker trips come from one of two causes: too much load on a single circuit, or moisture reaching an outdoor connection. Spreading your display across more than one circuit, using cords rated for outdoor use, and plugging into GFCI-protected outlets will prevent most of these problems. If you decorate on a large scale every year, you’ll want to consider adding a dedicated outdoor circuit to ensure your displays work without failure each season.
The weeks between Halloween and Black Friday are the right time to plan your winter holiday displays, before the ladders come out and new lighting purchases add another few strings to the pile. If you read our Halloween outdoor electrical safety post, some of this will be familiar, but holiday displays tend to be larger, stay up longer, and run through Alberta’s coldest weeks of the year.
Polar Electric – Leduc
Residential & Commercial Electricians
Alberta Certified Electricians – Licensed & Insured
587-985-6403
Serving Leduc, Edmonton, & surrounding area
13+ Years Experience
A+ Rating on Better Business Bureau
Why Do Electrical Problems Show Up in the Coldest Weeks?
December asks more of your electrical system than almost any other month because the days are short and lights run for more hours. Block heaters, space heaters, and furnace fans are also working harder, and holiday cooking puts an extra load on the kitchen.
At the same time, connections that heat up under load and cool down overnight can gradually loosen over years of that cycle. Loose connections rarely announce themselves in advance, and they don’t wait for a convenient week. Samantha Boyd called us a couple of days before Christmas with an electrical problem, and her review picks up the story:
“When we called Polar Electric, they responded within 20 minutes. I was very surprised being only a couple days before Christmas. Cory was very professional and efficient. He hooked his tracer up to the line and was able to find the loose connection in the wall and fix it.”
A loose connection hidden in a wall is a job for the right tools and a licensed electrician, not a simple breaker reset. If something stops working during the holidays, our emergency electricians serve Edmonton, Leduc, and the surrounding area.
How Much Can One Circuit Actually Handle?
The math is simpler than it looks. Multiply the circuit’s amperage by its voltage to find its capacity. Most household outdoor outlets are on a 15-amp, 120-volt circuit. Because holiday lights stay on for hours, the best practice is to keep them to about 80 percent of the maximum capacity, which is 1500 watts.
Next, add up what you plan to plug in. The wattage is printed on the box or on a tag near the plug. LED strings draw very little, while older incandescent strings, large inflatables, and projectors push the total up much faster.
Remember that your outdoor outlet probably shares a circuit with something else, often the garage. If a block heater or garage heater draws from that same circuit on a cold night, your display has less room than the math suggests.
Indoor vs. Outdoor Extension Cords: Does the Rating Matter?
It matters a great deal in an Alberta winter. Outdoor cords have tougher jackets designed to handle moisture, sunlight, and cold, while indoor cords can stiffen and crack below freezing. When you buy new cords, check the packaging for a low-temperature rating, which tells you the cord is built to stay flexible through an Edmonton January.
Two details are always worth checking on the packaging. The first is the gauge, where a lower number means heavier wire that can carry more load over a longer run. The second is the cord’s amperage or wattage rating, which should always exceed what you’re plugging into it. Health Canada’s holiday safety guidance also recommends buying lights and cords with a recognized certification mark and keeping indoor-rated decorations indoors.
When Is a Dedicated Outdoor Circuit Worth Installing?
If your display grows every year, or you’ve moved to permanent lighting that stays up year-round, a dedicated outdoor circuit is usually worth it. It gives your lights their own capacity, keeps them from competing with the garage, and puts a properly weatherproofed outlet exactly where you need it.
Not every setup needs a new circuit, and sometimes the right answer is an outdoor outlet exactly where the lights need it. That’s what we installed for Scott Jacques and his permanent lights, and his review sums up the experience:
“Polar Electric did a great job on my outdoor plugin needed for my permanent lights. Price was solid and was easy to deal with. Cleanup was spot on as well.”
A new outdoor circuit requires a permit, which we handle as part of the job. Our outdoor lighting guide covers what else to consider, and our outlets and switches page explains the outdoor work we do.
What Should You Do If a Breaker Keeps Tripping?
Start by working out which kind of trip you’re dealing with. A breaker that trips shortly after you add a new string is an overload, and the fix is to move part of the display to another circuit. A GFCI that trips after rain or a warm afternoon of snowmelt usually points to moisture in a connection, so dry it, cover it, and lift it off the ground.
Trips aren’t always obvious, either. Mike LeBlanc called us about a problem that turned out to be minor, noting it was an “Easy fix as breaker tripped but was not apparent as it was only a slight trip.” A tripped breaker can sit just off the ON position, so push it fully to OFF before resetting.
Some signs point to a real problem rather than a nuisance trip: a breaker that trips with nothing new plugged in, won’t reset, or feels warm, along with buzzing, a burning smell, or scorch marks at an outlet. Those deserve a call rather than another reset.
Enjoy the Lights Without the Troubleshooting
A little planning now means your display stays on from the first string to New Year’s Day. If you’d like a dedicated outdoor circuit before the lights go up, or a breaker has been giving you trouble, we’ll send a same-day written quote and book the work before the holiday rush.
Reach out to us or call 587-985-6403. We serve Edmonton, Leduc, Beaumont, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Spruce Grove, and the surrounding Alberta communities.
Written by the team at Polar Electric Contracting Ltd., licensed electricians serving Edmonton, Leduc, and the surrounding Alberta communities.
Polar Electric – Leduc
Residential & Commercial Electricians
Alberta Certified Electricians – Licensed & Insured
587-985-6403
Serving Leduc, Edmonton, & surrounding area
13+ Years Experience
A+ Rating on Better Business Bureau