A Practical Guide for Repair & Maintenance of Outdoor Lighting
Exterior lighting of your building makes your place of living more attractive at nights and it increases the safety of pathway from entrance to your house or workplace. On the other hand, proper lighting means warm welcome for you and your guests. On time Maintenance and repair of lighting parts and lights helps increasing life duration and saving additional costs. Outdoor lighting installed for beautifying and safety but when it works properly that all parts work well. In this article, we intend to explain 7 simple but necessary points about repair and cleaning outdoor lighting.
There are many reasons for malfunctioning or dirty of outdoor lighting in open areas, for example, natural reasons like climate change or plant growth or human and animals might play a role. However, don’t worry. You can use their light and beauty for a long time by on time checking the lights. Therefore, it is better to check these 7 points in outdoor, park and entrance lighting of your house or villa and check the function and proper working of them with an electrician or technician.
Tip 1: Upgrade Burnt Light Bulbs
It is better to start repairing outdoor lighting with changing burnt lamps. Our suggestion is that to choose LED lamps in order to save electricity and energy significantly. Pay attention to the color of light bulbs and we recommend to use the dominant color combination i.e. not completely white nor completely yellow for your outdoor area. If the entrance lights of pathways are not properly working and their amount of lighting is low, it will be better to replace them before they burnt in order to prevent dangers and accidents.
Tip 2: Clean All Fixtures
Outdoor lights mostly expose wind and rain and they get dirty so it is better to clean them regularly. In fact, amount of light is usually lost due to dust and bugs dead bodies inside lamps.
In order to clean different fixtures and glasses of lights, use a soft napkin. First, using a clean and damp napkin, clean both sides of the glass. Meanwhile, check and clean washers and lamp head and ensure they are properly working. Next step is lamps turn. If you have changed the lamps recently, maybe you think they are completely clean and they don’t need cleaning. However, most of times new lamps need dusting before installation. Be sure that you will be surprised after cleaning your lamps.
Internal reflector is a part of lamp that surrounds around lamp. Cleaning reflectors prevents entering external objects and bugs inside fixtures and reflectors work well. There may be dusts, spiders’ web or water stains on the lens that prevent light spreading completely and water stains make the lens opacity.
Tip 3: Trim Covered Plants & Grass
It is possible for different parts of the lamp, such as arms and bases, to be covered by growing plants or tree foliage over time. Even a small amount of these obstacles cause a lot of light to be wasted or not to be completely reflected in certain directions. At this stage, trim the extra foliage and cut the plants that have grown around the lamp.
Fourth Tip: Put the arms and base of lights in a Correct Way.
Arms and fixtures of the lights may be tilted or out of balance when a tree branch falls or people, cars or animals collide with that. If the base of light is tilted, it is necessary to put it in the ground again. Also, pay attention to the direction of the bulbs when reinstalling. Some lamp bulbs should be mounted facing up and some facing down.
Tip 5: Check the Wiring
Most of the time, all outdoor lights wiring must pass through the ground. In addition to keeping the area tidy, this ensures the safety of people and animals. If a wire comes out of the ground, make sure that the cover is intact, then carefully return it to the ground and cover it tightly. If the wire cover is damaged and not repaired, it may cause irreparable damage due to the contact with moisture.
Tip 6: Replacement or Repair?
Remember an important point about outdoor lights of humid and coastal areas such as north and south of Iran. The body and fixtures are constantly exposed to rain, high humidity, sediment and other corrosive elements and the basic solution is to replace the parts of the lights and in some cases the whole light with parts that own anti-moisture insulation and produced in accordance with these conditions. Remember that in cases where the repair cost is more than the replacement, it is better to replace the parts. Severe corrosion, broken glass or arms, and severe damage to the base of the lights are some of the cases that usually cost more to repair than to replace. And last but not the least:
Last tip: When to Contact professionals?
In general, anything beyond your ability and expertise requires help of a professional. For example, in cases where the lights, wiring and fuse is severely damaged, it is necessary to first contact a specialist and ask for help to avoid possible dangers.
Summary
All outdoor lights require proper annual maintenance and troubleshooting, and if they are not repaired in time, it may lead to irreparable financial or human risks. Cleaning the lights is also an important issue because outdoor lights are more exposed to pollution due to being outdoors and direct contact with natural factors, therefore, periodic cleaning of the lights is very effective in increasing life and efficiency as well as saving energy consumption. In this article, we have dealt with 7 practical points for maintenance of yard lights and briefly stated its essential and practical points.