An appliance repair emergency might be a leak or smoke or even flames coming from the home appliance.
If an appliance emergency happens in your house, unplug the appliance right away and call Eastvale Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Eastvale. If there’s an electrical fire from one of the appliances in your home, we suggest calling the town fire department even before you try to put out the fire on your own.
An electrical fire from an appliance is very scary and extremely dangerous, but there are a couple of steps to be prepared in the event of an emergency. If one of your appliances is in flames, it is very important not to panic. Follow our simple guidelines to help keep your home safe from electrical appliance fires.
You can stop electrical fires from starting by following a few simple rules of appliance safety in a home. Don’t plug in a lot of devices into a single electrical outlet—the wiring can become overloaded and spark a fire, especially if there’s clutter like clothes or paper close to the electrical outlet.
Sometimes we forget about the dangers of larger home appliances since they are plugged in all of the time, but they can present as much chance for a fire hazard as small devices like toasters and space heaters. Larger appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher should not be left running overnight or while you’re away from home, and try not to place a freezer or refrigerator in line of direct sunlight, to prevent possibly overworking the cooling systems inside.
Examine all of the outlets regularly for excessive heat, burn marks, and crackling or buzzing noises that could indicate electrical arcing. Be sure you have at least one smoke detector on each story of your home, and test the smoke detectors quarterly to keep them in working order.
If there’s an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it can be tempting to put out the fire with water, but water should never be used on an electrical appliance fire.
Water conducts electricity, and throwing water on a power source could give a harmful electrical shock. It could even make the fire stronger. Water could conduct the electricity to other parts of the room, increasing the risk of igniting more flammable items nearby.
The immediate thing you should do is to unplug the electric appliance from the power outlet and call the local fire department. Even if you can put out the fire by yourself, it is a good idea to have backup if the flames do get out of hand.
For minor fires, you may be able to pour on baking soda to smother the fire. Covering the smoldering or burning area with baking soda will sometimes block oxygen flow to the fire with minimal risk of electrocution. Baking soda also includes sodium bicarbonate, which is the substance used in standard fire extinguishers. You also may be able to smother a small fire using a heavy blanket as well, but only when the flames are small enough to not catch the heavy blanket on fire as well.
For large electrical appliance fires, you need a Type C fire extinguisher. You should be sure you have at least one Type C fire extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers should also be checked regularly to make sure they are not expired. If there’s a working extinguisher on hand, release the pin at the top, point the nozzle at the flames, and press the handle. If the flames get too big to put out by yourself or you think the fire could block an exit, leave the home as fast as possible, close the door behind you, and wait for assistance from the local fire department.
For the small appliance fires, call Eastvale Appliance Repair once the fire is under control and we can diagnose the cause of the fire and repair the appliance and restore it to working order.
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