Do you leave your Xmas tree lights on if you're not home?

[youareadarling]

I remember growing up this was a big no no! I think house fires because of Xmas trees were common enough but not something we hear of lately. Is it because lights are better or because nobody leaves them on in an empty house.

We always switch ours off when there’s nobody here and at night. Aside from any fire risk, what’s the point of having them on in an empty house?

My Mum was obsessed with turning the tree lights off. I think they went off if we left the room! I do turn mine off if we leave the house but we leave the outside ones on if we are out in the evening.

I have mostly traditional lights on my tree but also a couple of LED strings. When I go out I turn the traditional ones off, but leave the LED ones on so it isn't obviously an empty house.

I think current LED lights are very much less likely to overheat and cause fires then the old incandescent ones from my childhood.

(We leave ours on, but we also run the dishwasher, washing machine and heating when we're out, so pay no attention to me, Mumsnet long ago declared me to be a dangerous homicidal sociopath )

Inside ones goes off if we go out, outside lights stay on.

Absolutely not. Aside from any potential fire risk, you are also wasting electricity having the tree lights on when you aren't there to enjoy them.

Goodwill to all men?

Pretty much off when we’re not in the living room and defs off when we leave the house, it’s basically that Michael macintyre sketch, I trust the fridge not the lights, but also just I don’t see the point in it when no one is in the room with them

No. There was something on the telly years ago, where Hannah Gordon left her lights on, and the tree caught fire. I've been paranoid about it ever since.

Occasionally, but mostly by accident when I forget.

But, normally, I always turn them off.

Always off if we are not in the room with them like any other light as home. We have ours on a remote control so it only takes a second to turn them on or off.

I had a friend that used to housesit an extravagantly decorated house so the lights could stay on while the owners when to Christmas parties. But this family had antique and vintage lights and decorations so the fire risk probably was quite high.

With modern LEDs I wouldn't really worry about it. We use a timer on ours so it always looks like someone is home.

Yep ours go off overnight and if we are out.

Ours just go on a timer and I don't even think about it - even when we go away for a few days.

Ours are new and pretty safe.

I definitely leave them all on when we're out, and on a timer if we go away on holiday over Xmas. And a few lamps as well.

I reckon, in our area, the chance of them catching fire is much less than the chance of us being burgled if people think we're away.

I did yesterday....but by accident!
Thankfully we didn't burn down or anything.

LED lights are usually between 5v (battery powered) and 12v (plug in the wall type). That’s why there’s a chunky power ‘brick’ built into the plug to step down from the supply in the house (240v) to the 12v needed to run the LED lights.

The old style fairy lights were incandescent bulbs, which is why they’d feel warm to touch (and could pop when they got too hot). Whilst LED lights are much cooler to the touch (the actual bulbs themselves), that brick step down block built into the plug can get hot, so I wouldn’t recommend leaving them on when you leave the house. It’s unlikely they’ll cause a fire (with modern RCD protection built into the supply/fuse board they’ll usually trip the ring/floor switch to cut the circuit) but I’ve had a few dodgy power blocks that get hot so wouldn’t want to risk it.

Also, why waste energy if there’s no one in to see them? Sure, LEDs are far cheaper to run & more efficient, but they still cost money to run.

We actually have all ours on wifi/remote access switches so can (if we can be arsed lol) turn them on remotely if we want, but I don’t think the cats are too bothered if the Christmas tree isn’t on!

The only drawback of newer lights are that you can’t have things like this that utilised the heating of the bulbs to make the solvent bubble!

I’d love some of these, but trying to find bulb replacements would probably send me round the bend!

Lights on a timer, so do their thing whether we're out or away. They're not just for us; they're also for our neighbours and passersby. We always get complimented on them by strangers. All LED, so not worried about any fire risk.

We went out for a Christmas meal last night and not only did I leave the tree on but I switched them to flashing coloured lights instead of the boring white non flashing that DS(15) insists on. Why, you ask? To entertain the dog 😂.

No ours go off when we go out or go to bed. A house round the corner caught fire due to tree lights 5 days before Christmas last year. They still aren’t back in their house.

Also, why waste energy if there’s no one in to see them? Sure, LEDs are far cheaper to run & more efficient, but they still cost money to run.

Just checked ours. 480 bulbs - they use 3kWh for 1,000 hours of use. That's six weeks. In other words we can leave them on 24/7 from Remembrance Sunday to Twelfth Night for less than a quid!

(If we had sufficiently poor taste to make them flash they'd use considerably less )

I'm quite paranoid about fire so mine are always off when out or going to bed. However small the risk, it's still a risk and for what purpose?

I also wouldn't leave washing machine/dishwasher running when out or in bed. People do, but with those things there's at least a practical reason. No reason at all to leave tree lights on.

No. I still remember all the public safety ads though from when I was a child. Plus I was brought up to aways turn off the light when I leave a room - old habits die hard!

Never. Not worth the risk