Emergency Appliance Repair

A typical appliance repair emergency might be a leak or smoke or even flames coming from the household appliance.

In the event of an appliance emergency in your home, unplug the appliance right away and then call Lee Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in CITY. If there is an electrical fire from one of the appliances in your home, we advise calling the fire department even before attempting to put out the fire yourself.

An electrical fire is scary and extremely dangerous, but there are a few ways to be prepared in case of an emergency. If one of your appliances is in flames, it is very important not to panic and remain calm. Follow these easy guidelines below to help keep your house safe from electrical appliance fires.

PREVENTING ELECTRICAL FIRES

You can stop electrical fires from starting by following a few basic guidelines for appliance safety in a home. Be careful not to plug more than two devices into one outlet—the wiring can get overloaded and spark a fire, especially if there is debris like paper or clothes nearby the electrical outlet.

It can be easy to forget about the apparent dangers of larger residential appliances since they are plugged in all of the time, but they present as much chance for a fire hazard as small devices like toasters and space 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 direct sunlight, in order to prevent overworking their cooling systems inside.

Check all of the outlets regularly for extreme heat, burn marks, and buzzing or crackling noises that might point to electrical arcing. Be sure you keep at least one working smoke detector on each story of your house, and test them quarterly to keep them in good working condition.

WHAT NOT TO DO

If there’s an appliance repair emergency such as an electrical fire, it might be tempting to put out the flames with water, but water should never be used to put out an electrical fire.

Water can conduct electricity, and throwing water on a power source might cause a harmful electrical shock. It could even make the fire worse. Water can conduct the electricity to other parts of the room, running the chance of igniting other flammable objects in the area.

HOW TO EXTINGUISH AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The immediate step you want to do is unplug the electric appliance from the power outlet and call the local fire department. Even if you think you can handle the fire by yourself, it’s important to have help if the flames do get out of control.

For minor fires, you could be able to use baking soda to douse the flames. Covering the fuming or burning spot with some baking soda will sometimes prohibit oxygen flow to the fire with minimal chance of electrocution. Baking soda contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the chemical in regulation fire extinguishers. You also could be able to extinguish a smaller fire with a heavy blanket as well, but only if the flames are small enough to not catch the blanket on fire as well.

For big electrical appliance fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should always make sure you have at least one Type C or multi-use extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers need to be checked consistently to make sure they are not expired. If you have a working fire extinguisher in the home, just release the pin at the top, point the hose at the fire, and press the handle. If the flames get too dangerous to put out alone or you think the fire may block an exit, leave the house as fast as possible, shut the door behind you, and wait for assistance from the local fire department.

For the small appliance fires, call Lee Appliance Repair once the flames are extinguished and we can diagnose the reason for the fire and repair the electrical appliance and restore it to its original condition.

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Appliance Safety
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