Outdoor Power and Garden Lighting: What Is Safe Outside

The mower is going again, the barbecue is back out, and there is an extension lead running from the laundry door across the grass to the shed. It has been there since last summer.

Outdoor power is where most household electrical shortcuts end up, and spring is when they get used again. Here is what is safe to do yourself, what is not, and what to fix before summer.

A lead across the lawn is a temporary answer

An extension lead is for a job. It is not a way of getting power to part of the property permanently.

Outside, a lead gets walked on, run over, left in the sprinkler, and slowly cooked by the sun. Energy Safe Victoria's advice on wet areas is direct: do not use extension leads or power leads in wet areas unless they are specifically designed for that purpose. Its advice on damaged gear is just as plain, that frayed or damaged cords should be replaced immediately or the appliance disposed of.

Daisy chaining adaptors and boards to reach further is the other common shortcut. Energy Safe Victoria recommends using a power board with a built in safety device instead.

The permanent answer is a powerpoint where you actually need one. That is licensed work. Energy Safe Victoria states that electrical work is not a DIY job, even for small jobs such as changing power points or light switches, and that unqualified electrical work is both extremely dangerous and illegal.

Water is what makes outdoor power different

Inside, a fault has to get through your shoes and a dry floor. Outside it often does not.

Energy Safe Victoria puts the pool case bluntly. Electric shocks received in the vicinity of a swimming pool are more likely to be fatal than those received in other locations, because wet skin and bare feet reduce the body's insulation and resistance. Its rule there is never to use a portable electrical appliance or place an extension cord where it could be splashed or fall into the pool.

That logic covers the rest of the yard, and it is where a safety switch earns its place. Energy Safe Victoria describes a safety switch as monitoring the flow of electricity through a circuit and detecting problems that may pose a risk to personal safety, then cutting the power within milliseconds. Its Test. Reset. Protect. campaign asks you to check yours every three months by pressing the test button.

Worth knowing which circuits your outdoor gear sits on. If the shed, the pool pump and the garden lights run off a circuit with no safety switch, raise it with an electrician.

Garden lighting is worth planning before it is worth buying

Solar stake lights are yours to put wherever you like. Anything wired into the house is not.

Fixed outdoor lighting, a powerpoint on the deck, a circuit out to the shed or the studio: that is installation work, and it has to be done by a licensed electrician.

The planning is the part you can do. Walk the yard after dark and work out what actually needs to be lit, usually the steps, the path, the door you come in through and where you sit, rather than the whole garden at once. Bring that list to the quote instead of a number of lights.

Look up and look down before the spring jobs start

Some of the more dangerous backyard jobs have nothing to do with your switchboard. Energy Safe Victoria's outdoor guidance for work around the house:

• Keep well clear of electric wires attached to your house or shed.
• Keep metal ladders well away from powerlines, and use a ladder with rubber over the feet.
• Clear trees and shrubs from your service line before they grow to within one metre in any direction of that line.
• Identify the location of underground pipes and cables before you break the ground, and do not excavate until you know what is underground.

Trees are the one people get wrong. Once a branch is closer than a metre, it has stopped being a job for a homeowner with a pole saw. Responsibility is split too. Energy Safe Victoria states that for a tree growing on your property, you are responsible for clearing it around the service line that connects to your house, while the electricity distribution business clears it around the line connecting to your neighbour's house. Its advice is to contact your distribution business about safely pruning trees near powerlines.

Before You Dig Australia runs a free service giving you a single point of contact to request information about the infrastructure at your planned work site, without contacting each utility separately. A new fence, a raised garden bed or a pool excavation is worth an enquiry first.

What to do next

Walk the yard with the leads in mind. Note where each one runs, what has been plugged in permanently that should not be, and whether anything outside sits on a circuit without a safety switch. Press the test button while you are at the board.

If the honest answer to a lead is a powerpoint, or the garden needs lighting that stays put, book a licensed electrician. If a tree is anywhere near the line into your house, call your distributor before you call anyone with a chainsaw.