Why Preventative Maintenance of Your Lighting is Important

When it comes to preventative maintenance of your home, often you think of things like the lawn and garden, the furnace inspection before winter, or changing out blown breakers. One of the things that often gets overlooked is preventative maintenance of your outdoor lighting. While most systems installed today need little maintenance, there are some things that you will need to consider. If you do not carefully maintain your outdoor lighting, it will not last as long as you wish.

Trees and Plants

When outdoor lighting is first installed, it is placed away from trees and plants in the area in an attempt to avoid damage from the roots or limbs. However, overtime trees do grow, and gardens can quickly expand. If you do not use preventative maintenance to make sure that your lighting remains clear of these hazards, you could wind up with lighting fixtures grown into plants—a situation that could lead to losing both the plant and the fixture.

Moisture Buildup

Outdoor lighting is designed to be able to withstand most moisture. The fixture keeps the bulb and wiring from getting moist or wet from the elements, yet sometimes moisture is still able to get into the fixture. It is important to check your fixtures frequently to see if there is any sign of moisture inside the fixture, such as beads of water on the inside of the glass. Replace these immediately because water and electricity don’t mix, and you don’t want to cause a fire or major short.

Bulbs

If you have an old school outdoor lighting system, you may still have halogen bulbs. These have to be changed out routinely. If one burns out, it can cause the other lights to surge. This can be dangerous as well as costly if all the bulbs blow out. It is a good idea as part of your preventative maintenance to switch to LED lights. While there is still some basic maintenance for LED lights, they use less electricity and are less hazardous than the old bulbs.

If you have an outdoor lighting system, you should be making sure it is in working order at least once per year to avoid costly repairs. Contact us today to learn more about our preventative maintenance program.