Diwali Lights Safety: How Not to Trip, Overload or Burn Anything Tonight

Happy Diwali! Before the lights go on this evening, take fifteen minutes for a quick safety round. Most festive electrical trouble isn’t dramatic; it’s an extension board that gets too hot, a cheap adapter that melts, or a string of lights running through a door that someone closes on it. All very avoidable.

1. Check the extension boards first

This is where most problems start. A few rules:

• Don’t plug one extension board into another. Daisy-chaining is the most common cause of overheating.
• Use a board with its own fuse or switch and a proper thick cable, not the thin flat kind.
• Touch test after 30 minutes: if the plug or board feels hot (not just warm), unplug something.
• Keep boards off the floor where water from mopping, rangoli or a spilled glass can reach them.

2. Look for a genuine ISI mark

Plugs, sockets, switches, cables and many electrical accessories should carry the ISI mark with a licence number (CM/L-xxxxxxx) next to it. A logo alone is easy to fake. The Bureau of Indian Standards has a free app, BIS Care, where you can enter the licence number and check that it belongs to a real manufacturer and product. More details are on the BIS website.

Unbranded festive light strings often come with no mark at all. They might be fine, but they’re also the ones with paper-thin wire and loose joints. If a light string’s adapter feels flimsy, don’t leave it running overnight.

3. LED lights are your friend

Modern LED serial lights use very little power and barely heat up, which makes them far safer than the old incandescent bulb strings. Ten LED strings together usually draw less than one old halogen lamp. If you still have ancient bulb-type lights in the loft, this is a good year to retire them. And if you want decor that lasts beyond the festival, warm-white LED strings top our list of budget Diwali decor ideas.

4. Outdoor and balcony lights need extra care

• Use lights marked for outdoor use if they’ll be exposed to dew or rain.
• Keep the plug and connection point indoors or under cover.
• Don’t run wires through window frames or doors that close on them. A crushed wire can short later.
• Don’t nail or staple through the cable; use clips or tape.

5. Test your RCCB (it takes 5 seconds)

Many homes have an RCCB or ELCB in the main distribution board. It cuts power if current leaks to earth, which is what protects you from a shock. It has a small “T” or “Test” button. Press it: the switch should drop immediately. Switch it back on. If nothing happens when you press Test, get an electrician to check it after the festival. It’s worth doing every few months anyway.

6. Diyas and candles: the real fire risk

Honestly, open flames cause more Diwali home fires than wiring does.

• Keep diyas at least an arm’s length from curtains, torans, paper lanterns and dupattas.
• Put them on a metal plate or a steady surface, not directly on wooden furniture.
• Watch the windows: a breeze can push a curtain onto a flame.
• Keep a bucket of water or sand on the balcony while you’re doing patakhe, and keep children’s clothes cotton rather than synthetic.
• Before bed, walk through the house once and put out every flame.

7. Know what to do if something goes wrong

• Electrical fire: switch off the main supply first if you can do it safely. Never throw water on an electrical fire.
• Burn: cool it under running tap water for at least 10–20 minutes. No toothpaste, no ice, no butter.
• Emergency numbers: 112 is the all-in-one emergency number in India; 101 is the fire service.

Quick pre-Diwali safety checklist

Check	Done?
No extension board plugged into another	☐
Boards and adapters not hot after 30 minutes	☐
Outdoor plugs under cover	☐
RCCB test button works	☐
Diyas away from curtains and torans	☐
Water or sand bucket on the balcony	☐
Everything switched off / put out before bed	☐

Worried about the bill from all those lights? With LEDs it’s usually small. Plug the total wattage and hours into our energy cost calculator and you’ll see. And for tomorrow morning’s cleanup, we’ve got a guide on getting rid of wax, oil and rangoli stains.

Have a safe and happy Diwali.