Home & Garden · Energy and appliances
How to inspect last year’s lights before rehanging
Inspect stored lights on a table and discard cut, taped, or pinless sets. Do not plug a damaged set in, splice it, or climb onto an icy gutter to check it.
Inspect last year’s lights on a table, unplugged, before they go near a gutter or a tree. A cut jacket, tape repair, damaged socket, loose connection or a missing pin on a grounded plug means that set stays out of service. Follow the maker’s instructions for replaceable bulbs or fuses; damaged wiring or a modified plug is a reason to replace the set. Do not plug a damaged set in “to see if it still works.” Do not climb to inspect a strand that is still on the house.
Step 1: The set has to be in your hands
- Unplug at the outlet. Then bring the set inside, or inspect the coil you stored.
- If the set is still on the roof or frozen to a gutter, leave it until you can bring it down without ice and without stepping on the roof: ladder and ice and roof clips.
- Do not yank a knot tight to speed the check.
How you put them away last time is storing lights.
Step 2: Look at the jacket, the sockets, and the plug
Run the cord through your hands in the light. Cuts, chew marks, brittle cracks, and old tape are out. Crushed or missing sockets are out. A plug that is cracked, browned, or missing its ground pin is out. Do not tape any of those and do not clip a pin so it fits. Do not splice two damaged halves into one “good” set.
Read indoor or outdoor on the tag or the plug. If the indoor/outdoor mark is gone, check the original manual or product identification. If you cannot confirm outdoor suitability, that set does not go outside. A missing watt line stays missing: light energy. The cord you will use this year still needs a printed rating of its own: extension cords.
Step 3: Test only a set that passed the look
Plug one intact set into a listed strip or a wall outlet you can see, for a short look, with you in the room. Then unplug it. If the plug is hot, if it smells, or if a socket sparks, unplug it, leave it uncovered, and discard the set. Do not wrap it. Do not put it on a heater to dry.
Do not daisy-chain sets during the test. Follow the maximum printed on the package, or test a single set if that line is gone: circuit planning. A heater does not share the strip: surge protectors. The panel stays closed.
Step 4: Label the keepers before they leave the table
Keepers go in a bin marked indoor or outdoor, in loose loops. Discarded sets go out with the trash, not into a “maybe” box. Timers get the same look: cracked cases and swollen batteries are not charged and not punctured. Button cells stay packaged. A swallowed button cell is emergency services: battery storage.
Hang keepers only on a dry day, from the ground or a ladder you already use safely: gutter hangs. A set you cannot identify stays in the bin until you can read a mark, or it is discarded. Do not photograph the breaker panel as part of the inspection.
What you should be able to point at
- Sets on a table, unplugged. Nothing inspected from a ladder on ice or from the roof.
- Cut, taped, crushed, browned, or pinless sets discarded. No splice and no tape repair.
- Indoor or outdoor read from the set. A missing mark does not go outside. Missing watts stay blank.
- A short test only after the look passes. Hot, smelly, or sparking sets unplugged, uncovered, and discarded.
- Keepers loosely coiled and labeled. Button cells packaged. Panel closed.
Example: four coils, one keeper
They empty the bin onto the kitchen table and unplug nothing else because these have been stored. The first cord has a slice and a piece of tape. It goes in the discard bag. The second plug is missing the ground pin. Discard. The third has no indoor or outdoor mark left. It stays out of the porch plan. The fourth jacket is intact, the pin is there, and the tag says outdoor. They plug that one into the wall for a minute, watch it light, feel a plug that is not hot, and unplug it. They wind it loosely into a bin marked outdoor. They do not chain it to the damaged set “to use the good bulbs.” They do not carry the test onto the icy porch. A timer battery that looks puffy is not charged. The panel was never opened. Next weekend, if the walk is dry, that one outdoor set can go on the porch within the package limit. The other three are gone.
Related guides
Last updated: October 29, 2026
Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Suggest a correction
Questions readers ask
The tape has held since last year. Can we use the set again?
No. A taped jacket is discarded. Do not add more tape, do not splice, and do not plug it in to see. An intact set is the one you test.
Half the bulbs are dark. Can we cut that half off and keep the rest?
Do not cut or splice a light string. Unplug it and follow the maker’s instructions for any replaceable bulb or fuse. If sockets, wiring or connections are damaged, replace the set.
The set is still on the gutter and we want to see if it works before we take it down.
Unplug it. Do not climb on ice, and do not go on the roof. Inspect it on a table after it is down. A frozen cord stays put until a dry day or until someone who already works on roofs can reach it.
There is no outdoor mark. The porch is covered. Can it go outside?
A covered porch still needs lights rated for outdoor use. Check the original manual or product model if the tag is missing. If you cannot confirm the rating, keep the set indoors or replace it.
The plug was warm. Is warm the same as hot?
If you do not want to leave your hand on it, or you smell heat, unplug it, leave it uncovered, and discard the set. Do not wrap it and do not put it on a heater. Do not open the panel because a plug was warm.
Sources and methodology
Claims that depend on an outside authority are tied to the references below. Product details change. Confirm the current specification sheet before you buy or install anything.
- ESFI Holiday Lighting Safety Tips — Electrical Safety Foundation International (nonprofit), accessed October 29, 2026. Covers inspection and replacement of damaged holiday light strings.
Information on this site is for general educational purposes and is not professional advice.
Parent topic: Home & Garden