A typical appliance repair emergency might be a leak or smoke or even a fire coming from the home appliance.
If an appliance emergency arises in your house, unplug the appliance right away and then call United Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Union City. If there’s an electrical fire involving one of the appliances in your home, we advise calling the local fire department before attempting to extinguish the fire by yourself.
An electrical fire is 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 is important not to panic and remain calm. Follow our simple guidelines below to help keep your house safe from electrical appliance fires.
You are able to stop electrical fires from ever starting by following some basic guidelines for appliance safety. Do not plug too many electrical devices into one electrical outlet—the wiring can become overloaded and spark a fire, especially if there’s clutter like clothes or paper nearby the electrical outlet.
Sometimes we forget about the apparent dangers of large household appliances because they are plugged in all the time, but they still present as much of a fire hazard as smaller electrical devices like toasters and space heaters. Large appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher should not be left to run overnight or while you are away from home, and try not to keep a freezer or refrigerator in line of direct sunlight, in order to prevent possibly overworking their cooling systems.
Inspect all of the outlets on a regular basis for excessive heat, burn marks, and buzzing or crackling sounds that might point to electrical arcing. Make sure you store at least one working smoke detector on each floor of your house, and test the smoke detectors often to keep them in good working condition.
If there is an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it could be tempting to douse the fire with water, but water should never be used to douse an electrical fire.
Water will conduct electricity, and throwing water on or near a power source could cause a harmful electrical shock. It might even make the fire stronger. Water can conduct electricity to additional areas of the room, running the risk of igniting more flammable objects nearby.
The first step you need to do is unplug the electric device from the power source and call your local fire department. Even if you are able to put out the fire on your own, it’s a good idea to have backup 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 area with a layer of baking soda will sometimes prohibit oxygen flow to the fire with little chance of electrocution. Baking soda also contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the substance in standard 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 not to catch the blanket on fire too.
For large electrical fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should make sure you have at least one Type C or multi-use extinguisher in your house. Extinguishers need to be checked often to ensure they haven’t expired. If there is a operational fire extinguisher on hand, just pull the pin at the top, point the hose at the source of the flames, and press the handle. If the fire gets too big to fight alone or you think the fire might block an exit, leave the house as fast as possible, close the door behind you, and then wait for help from the fire department.
For the small appliance fires, call United Appliance Repair once the fire is 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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