Can you get electrocuted if its snowing and you have to plug your christmas lights in to an outside outllet?

Question

The outlet has a cover but its been snowing all day so obviously there is moisture on the inside, right? The cord I can dry off but if the inside of the outlet is wet will i get electrocuted?

Answer 1

Hi;
No. Under most conditions, it's unlikely you would even get a shock, let alone be electrocuted. Here's why.

When you look at a standard outlet, there are two vertical dashes of different lengths and a tiny mouse door. With modern outlets, the electricity is inside the shorter dash. Inside, there is a piece of bent metal which someone, hopefully an electrician or someone trained by an electrician, connected to a wire called the 'hot' lead. The longer dash is connected to the 'neutral' wire, also called the 'return'. The little mouse hole is where the ground prong goes. Inside the mouse hole is a piece of metal which is connected to the actual ground outside your house or building by wires or other connected metal.
Now, let's imagine that electricity is like a mouse on a running wheel. The mice are all trying to run into the mouse hole. But, instead of just letting them run into the hole (where they immediately take off their running shoes and flop on the floor in front of the television) we have them run on their wheels first and make our electrical stuff work. That's what the 'return' wire is for. An electrical circuit almost always runs through a 'circuit breaker' which limits the amount of current (the number and strength of mice) which can try to get through the wire back to the state of equilibrium in front of the television. If too many mice try to squeeze through, it 'trips the breaker'. Now, since all those mighty mice could hurt people if they were left uncontrolled, electricians keep the ground (mouse hole) close to them at all times. This way, if they get out of hand, they can quickly tag ground and the danger is averted. That's why the mouse hole is there on the outlet: So the metal housings and chasis of things we energize with electricity can be grounded and a direct pathway to ground can be readily available for the electricity should it begin to follow a pathway other than that which we intend.
So, in order for you to get a shock, you have to put your physical self between the ground and the electricity. That can happen two ways, primarily: You have to get between the mice and the door or the mice and the circuit that they're running through.
Electricity can't pass through some things as easily as others. Things which allow the mice to move freely are called 'conductors' and those that inhibit the free movement are called insulators. The wire we use to move electricity from one place to another is often made from copper or a copper alloy (a metal) which is a good conductor of electricity, and your gloves or mittens would be an insulator. So would your socks and shoes. Even your skin is an insulator to an extent. So, if you WANTED to get a shock, you'd have to eliminate any insulators or reduce the insulative qualities of insulators between yourself and the electricity (by either taking them away or getting them pretty wet) AND complete the circuit to either the return or to ground using your body. Snowflakes aren't enough to complete the circuit. There would have to be wetness... Any dry or non-conductive materials (wool, nylon, cotton) which aren't moist / wet would be an insulator.
If you ran out onto your front lawn in your sweaty, stocking feet and were standing on a thin layer of wet snow on the damp grass and, with a wet hand, took a wet electrical cord and plugged it into the outlet, you might get a momentary shock or stinging tingle sensation in your hand or feet as the electricity tried to establish a pathway through the moisture on the plugs and your skin and through your moist socks into the ground. Should you try to steady yourself by holding onto the (grounded) metal housing surrounding the outlet, all you would have to do to become electrified is have your finger touching the prong which goes into the shorter dash as you plug in the cord and, BAM!, you'd get 'wacked' (technical electrical term for a brief period of electrocution). Caution** being 'wacked' can be fatal. To actually electrocute yourself, you would have to have the electricity pass through you - from one side of your body to the other - a circuit which crosses your heart. A momentary electrical jolt could cause your heart to go into spasms (ventricular fibulations, V-fib) and, were you not revived, you might die.
There actually IS a national statistic for people who accidently electrocute themselves plugging things in, but, if you follow a few safety precautions, you'll be fine.
A 'normal' scenario: you get up from the table wearing normal clothes, socks and sneakers and run outside to light the outdoor display. It's snowing. You pick up the cord and it's been lying in the snow. Your hand is now slightly wet with melting snow and the cord has some snow on it. You knock the cord against your leg and most of the snow falls off. Your socks and shoes will prevent any circuit being established between you and the ground (they would have to be wet and in firm contact with unfrozen wet soil to make a solid connection). So, as you go to plug in the cord, you are insulated where your body meets the ground and, even if there's water on your hand and the cord, you would need to be grounding yourself with the other hand in order to be momentarily 'electrofied'. This isn't even to mention, as was stated earlier, that electrical code calls for "Ground-Fault (a fault to ground) Circuit Interrupt" protections (GFCI's) to be installed for outdoor electrical circuits. They are extremely sensitive to any stray electricity. That means that if ONE mouse so much as sets one little pinky toe outside the dotted lines, click-pop. Out go the lights.

In conclusion, just don't plug in those outdoor lights with really wet hands and feet, don't grab anything metal while your plugging in the cord, and just hold the outside of the plug without touching the metal prongs as you plug it in.

I hope this helps.
Merry Christmas,
wayne

Answer 2

ware a pair of rubber boots if ya want, but as long as the outlets cover has been put into place since the last time it was used, don't worry .electrical codes state that a GFI must be installed, with all outlets near moisture

Answer 3

I dont have a plug exterior the two. the only ingredient i could do is discover an extension twine and close the domicile windows. You dont choose for them to be open. you ought to get an alarm to your window in case you're nervous approximately somebody breaking in.

Answer 4

Not if it's a government approved type. Does everything conform to gov demanded quality? It's ok then.

Or it's that way in the UK, check for other countries.

Answer 5

i dont think so....just make sure that you hold on the the rubber part. doesnt your outside outlet have a cover? well, either way, i dont think your going to get electocuted.

Answer 6

No, as long as you use surge protectors and gray tape.