How are Christmas lights safe in the rain?

[Tgo01]

One would think electricity + water = burned down house yet I've never had any problems with leaving our lights and decorations on while it's raining, or even if there is 6 inches of snow on the ground.

Does this all have to do with fuses and ground wires and all of that electrical shit that I know nothing about? Or have I just been rolling the dice year after year and have so far just gotten lucky?

While most of our decorations have fuses some of them don't, the part that plugs into an outlet looks like one of those little brick type dealios.

[Tgo01]

Thread: How are Christmas lights safe in the rain?

You should spend enough time asking about politics as you do basic physics.

You mad bro? You mad.

[Taernath]

If they are rated to be outside you should be ok as long as you don't submerge them. Each strand should have a separate fuse.

[Tgo01]

If they are rated to be outside you should be ok as long as you don't submerge them. Each strand should have a separate fuse.

Awesome. Awesome. No fires is always a good thing.

[WRoss]

If they are rated to be outside you should be ok as long as you don't submerge them. Each strand should have a separate fuse.

If you look at plug, there is usually a spot between the prongs or on the side where there is a fuse. That fuse acts as the third fail safe apart from the fuse/breaker and the GFI that it should be running from.

Apart from that, the lights are not much different than any outdoor fixture you have, for example the ones on the door. The light bulb goes into the socket and closes the circuit. The seals are tight enough that a little humidity, snow, rain, semen, or whatever is not going to be an issue. Plus, most newer Christmas lights are so low wattage that even if they did short circuit, they really aren't going to do much, except pop and maybe break a little glass. Some of the new LED lights can even be fully submerged without issue.

[Tgo01]

But what about the extension cords, those don't have fuses or anything. I have some extension cords that have like 3 outlets on it but sometimes I'll only use 2. I thought it was crazy to do this while it was raining, leaving an open live socket like that and all, I thought it was really crazy to do this when the extension cord is buried under 6 inches of snow, but so far nothing has happened.

Is it more of a risk of shock by touching the outlet while it's wet rather than a risk of fire? I obviously don't go around touching these outlets when they're soaking wet...not usually anyways.

[WRoss]

But what about the extension cords, those don't have fuses or anything. I have some extension cords that have like 3 outlets on it but sometimes I'll only use 2. I thought it was crazy to do this while it was raining, leaving an open live socket like that and all, I thought it was really crazy to do this when the extension cord is buried under 6 inches of snow, but so far nothing has happened.

Is it more of a risk of shock by touching the outlet while it's wet rather than a risk of fire? I obviously don't go around touching these outlets when they're soaking wet...not usually anyways.

I am not sure if you are trolling or not.

You have to close the circuit to make the connection. For example, most extension cords have three female openings: live (the larger opening, on the left usually), neutral (the smaller opening, on the right usually), and ground (the round one on the bottom). You'd need to make a connection between live and neutral in order to close the circuit, which, in theory, water could do. If that did happen, then the water would be conducting a current through it. It'd likely just pop the GFI or breaker that it's connected to. If something was plugged into it with all three plugs, it'd likely send the current up the ground, if everything is installed and wired properly. What you are talking about, is hypothetically having enough current passing through the water to ignite a tree or leaf or whatever, which I'm sure, could happen, but you'd have to have a whole bunch of things going wrong.

[Tgo01]

What you are talking about, is hypothetically having enough current passing through the water to ignite a tree or leaf or whatever, which I'm sure, could happen, but you'd have to have a whole bunch of things going wrong.

Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking, the water bridging a connection then since the extension cord is on the ground the water around it could cause a spark or something. Although I suppose if the ground and everything is wet it would be tough for a spark to cause a fire.

I guess part of the reason I was concerned is because I don't use our GFCI circuits because those trip constantly with our lights and decorations, like two days after the rain has stopped. From what I understand about GFCI outlets though is that they are more for not causing a shock if you're using like a power tool out in the rain, not so much for preventing fires, but then the other day I was thinking "Wait, is that right? Is my house an insurance claim waiting to happen?"

[Latrinsorm]

Is my house an insurance claim waiting to happen?Now the truth comes out.

[Tgo01]

Now the truth comes out.

http://cdn2.funscrape.com/Images/8/8648528829884172.jpg

[Latrinsorm]

http://i.imgur.com/NAexc3c.gif