Hi Moms, please excuse my ignorance. We have never put up Christmas lights before - until now. I bought an outdoor extension cord, but when I took it out of the packaging, the tag attached to the cord said "keep away from water." How could that be possible when it is an outdoor cord? Help! Thanks!
Wrap all your connection points really well with black electrical tape and you should be fine. My husbands landscape company has been hanging Christmas lights since the early 90's and that's what they do.
It's fine. It means don't submerge it in water. If it's an outdoor cord, it'll be fine with basic moisture.
What they really mean is, "don't plug this in and then submerge it in water". But by saying the other thing, they are attempting to eliminate their liability from the stupidity of humanity. When using extension chords outside, just be smart about it. There is no way to prevent it and your lights from the rain, but don't put any connections on top of a sprinkler head, or at the bottom of the gutter drain, or a low spot that a puddle would accumulate. There are thousands of people that leave their lights on in the rain. For the most part, the lights will be just fine. If you're really worried, then wrap each connection in electrical tape to seal out the water.
Which leads to another thing - if you're planning to compete on "America's Greatest Christmas Light Fight", then we need to have a discussion about wire gauge and length. If it's not too many lights, which I suggest for a first-timer, then the exterior chord you have is probably fine.
You would be surprised at what people do. As long as the cord is for outdoor use and you see the UL sign, it should be fine. If no UL, do not use it.
A friend of mine once ran the cords through her gutters because she hated seeing them hang off the house. Guess who got a short the first day the snow melted. Had a $2000 electric bill 3 days after Christmas. Gutters were full of melted snow so the cords were submerged. And for the UL sign or marking, some cheap manufacturers label the cords as outdoor but they are not actually tested and can cause fires when used outside with the outdoor moisture.
I had the same experience last weekend. My indoor/outdoor cord said "do not expose to moisture". I think you will be fine, so long as the label does say outdoor on it. Good luck!
Everything has warning labels like the hair dryers "keep away from water" or coffee cups "extremely hot" because some people are really stupid and refuse to use common sense.
You can cover the connections with electrical tape but as long as it is an outside extension cord it will be fine. The warning is there to not submerge it into water.
