Emergency Appliance Repair

A typical appliance repair emergency could be a leak or smoke or even a fire coming from the appliance.

In the event of an appliance emergency in your house, unplug the appliance right away and call Tate Appliance Repair for local appliance repair. If there’s an electrical fire happening with one of the appliances inside of your house, we advise calling the fire department before you attempt to extinguish the fire on your own.

An electrical fire from an appliance can be scary and extremely dangerous, but there are a couple of steps to be prepared in case of an emergency. If an electrical appliance is in flames, it is important not to panic and remain calm. Follow our simple guidelines to keep your home safe from electrical appliance fires.

PREVENTING ELECTRICAL FIRES

You are able to stop electrical fires before they start by following a couple of basic guidelines for appliance safety in a home. Be careful not to plug in too many electrical devices into a single outlet—the wiring can get overloaded and spark a fire, especially when there’s debris like paper or clothes nearby the outlet.

It can be easy to forget about the dangers of large residential appliances since they remain plugged in all the time, but they can present as much chance for a fire hazard as smaller electrical devices like kitchen toasters and heaters. Large appliances like a dishwasher or washing machine shouldn’t be left to run overnight or any time you are not at home, and do not place a freezer or refrigerator in line of direct sunlight, to prevent overworking their cooling systems.

Inspect all of the outlets on a regular basis for excessive heat, signs of burns, and buzzing or crackling noises that might point to electrical arcing. Be sure you store at least one smoke detector on every story of your home, and test the smoke detectors regularly to keep them in working condition.

WHAT NOT TO DO

If there’s an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it can be tempting to put out the fire with water, but water shouldn’t be used to douse an electrical fire.

Water can conduct electricity, and pouring water on or near a power source can give a dangerous electrical shock. It might even make the fire stronger. Water might conduct electricity to additional parts of the room, increasing the chance of igniting other flammable items in the area.

HOW TO PUT OUT AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The first step you want to do is unplug the electric device from the power outlet and call your fire department. Even if you think you can put out the fire yourself, it is important to have help if the fire does get out of hand.

For smaller fires, you may be able to pour on baking soda to douse the fire. Covering the smoking or burning spot with some baking soda will sometimes block oxygen flow to the flames with very little risk of electrocution. Baking soda also contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the same chemical in standard fire extinguishers. You may be able to put out a small fire using a heavy blanket as well, but only when the flames are small enough not to catch the blanket on fire as well.

For big electrical appliance fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should make sure you have at least one Type C or multi-use extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers should also be checked regularly to ensure they haven’t expired. If there’s a working extinguisher in the home, just pull the pin at the top, point the nozzle at the fire, and squeeze the handle. If the flames get too big to fight alone or you think the fire might block an exit, you should leave the home right away, shut the door behind you, and wait for help from the fire department.

For the smaller appliance fires, call Tate Appliance Repair once the flames are under control and we can identify the reason for the fire and repair the electrical appliance and return it to working order.

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