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, unplug the appliance immediately and call All-Tech Appliance Repair for local appliance repair. If there is an electrical fire happening with one of the large or small appliances in your home, we advise calling the local fire department before you try to put out the fire by yourself.

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

PREVENTING ELECTRICAL FIRES

You can prevent electrical fires before they start by following a few simple guidelines for appliance safety. Don’t plug a lot of devices into a single outlet—the wiring can get overloaded and then spark a fire, especially if there’s debris like clothes or paper nearby the outlet.

Sometimes we forget about the dangers of larger residential appliances since they stay plugged in all the time, but they still present as much chance for a fire hazard as smaller electrical appliances like kitchen toasters and heaters. Large appliances like a dishwasher or washing machine shouldn’t be left to run overnight or any time you’re not at home, and try not to place a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, in order to prevent overworking their cooling systems inside.

Inspect all of the outlets on a regular basis for excessive heat, signs of burns, and buzzing or crackling noises that could indicate electrical arcing. Make sure you store at least one working smoke detector on every floor of your home, and test them often to keep them in working order.

WHAT NOT TO DO

If there’s an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it might be tempting to douse the flames with water, but water should never be used on an electrical appliance fire.

Water can conduct electricity, and dumping water on a power source could give a severe electrical shock. It could even make the fire stronger. Water can conduct the electricity to additional areas of the room, running the risk of igniting other flammable objects in the area.

HOW TO PUT OUT AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The immediate thing you want to do is to unplug the electric appliance from the power outlet and call your local fire department. Even if you can extinguish the fire on your own, it is a good idea to have backup if the fire does get out of hand.

For small fires, you could be able to use baking soda to extinguish the fire. Covering the smoking or burning spot with a layer of baking soda can block oxygen flow to the flames with minimal risk of electrocution. Baking soda also includes sodium bicarbonate, which is the chemical used in regulation fire extinguishers. You also may be able to put out a small fire using a heavy blanket as well, but only when the fire is small enough not to catch the heavy blanket on fire as well.

For big electrical appliance fires, you need a Type C fire extinguisher. You should make sure you have at least one Type C or multi-use extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers need to be checked regularly to make sure they have not expired. If you have a operational fire extinguisher on hand, release the pin near the top, point the hose at the flames, and squeeze the handle. If the fire gets too dangerous to fight by yourself or you think the fire might block an exit, leave the house right away, close the door behind you, and then wait for help from the local fire department.

For the small appliance fires, call All-Tech Appliance Repair once the fire is extinguished and we can identify the cause of the fire and repair the electrical appliance and restore it to its original condition.

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