Emergency Appliance Repair

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

If an appliance emergency occurs in your home, unplug the appliance right away and then call Calhoun Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in CITY. If there’s an electrical fire from one of the large or small appliances in your home, we suggest calling the local fire department even before attempting to extinguish the fire yourself.

An electrical fire from an appliance is very scary and very dangerous, but there are a few ways to be prepared in the event of an emergency. If an appliance goes up in flames, it’s important to not panic and remain calm. Follow our simple guidelines to keep your home safe from electrical fires.

PREVENTING ELECTRICAL FIRES

You are able to stop electrical fires before they start by following a couple of basic rules of appliance safety in a home. Be sure not to plug in a lot of devices into a single electrical outlet—the wiring might become overloaded and then spark a fire, especially if there is clutter like clothes or paper close to the outlet.

It’s possible to forget about the apparent dangers of larger appliances because they remain plugged in all of the time, but they present as much of a fire hazard as small electrical appliances like kitchen toasters and heaters. Larger appliances like a dishwasher or washing machine shouldn’t be left running overnight or while you are away from home, and don’t keep a refrigerator or freezer in direct sunlight, in order to prevent possibly overworking the cooling systems.

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

WHAT TO NOT DO

If there is an appliance repair emergency such as an electrical fire, it might be tempting to put out the fire with water, but water shouldn’t be used to fight an electrical fire.

Water can conduct electricity, and dumping water on a power source might give a dangerous electrical shock. It might even make the fire even worse. Water might conduct electricity to other parts of the room, increasing the chance of igniting more flammable objects nearby.

HOW TO EXTINGUISH AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The immediate step you need to do is unplug the electric device from the power outlet and call the fire department. Even if you think you can take care of the fire on your own, it is a good idea to have backup if the fire does get out of hand.

For minor fires, you might be able to use baking soda to extinguish the flames. Covering the fuming or burning spot with some baking soda will sometimes prevent oxygen flow to the flames with little risk of electrocution. Baking soda also contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the substance used in standard fire extinguishers. You also could be able to extinguish a smaller fire using a heavy blanket, but only if the fire is small enough not to catch the heavy blanket on fire too.

For larger electrical appliance fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should make sure you own at least one Type C extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers need to be inspected often to make sure they aren’t expired. If you have a operational extinguisher on hand, pull the pin near the top, aim the nozzle at the flames, and squeeze the handle. If the flames get too dangerous to fight alone or you think the fire may block an exit, leave the house immediately, shut the door , and wait for help from the fire department.

For the small appliance fires, call Calhoun Appliance Repair once the flames are extinguished and we can diagnose the cause of the fire and repair the electrical appliance and restore it to working order.

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Appliance Safety
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