Emergency Appliance Repair

An appliance repair emergency could be a leak or smoke or even a fire coming from the household appliance.

In the event of an appliance emergency in your home, unplug the appliance immediately and call Wright Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in CITY. If there’s an electrical fire from one of the large or small appliances inside your home, we advise calling the fire department even before attempting to extinguish the fire on your own.

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

HOW TO PREVENT ELECTRICAL FIRES

You can stop electrical fires from ever starting by following a couple of simple rules of appliance safety in a home. Do not plug too many electrical devices into one outlet—the wiring might become overloaded and then spark a fire, especially if there’s debris like clothes or paper near the outlet.

It is possible to forget about the apparent dangers of larger household appliances because they stay plugged in all of 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 shouldn’t be left running overnight or any time you’re not at home, and do not place a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, to prevent overworking the cooling systems inside.

Examine all of the outlets regularly for excessive heat, burn marks, and buzzing or crackling noises that might point to electrical arcing. Make sure you keep at least one smoke detector on each floor of your house, and test the smoke detectors quarterly to keep them in working order.

WHAT NOT TO DO

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

Water conducts electricity, and throwing water on a power source could cause a dangerous electrical shock. It could even make the fire even worse. Water could conduct electricity to additional parts of the room, running the chance of igniting more flammable objects nearby.

HOW TO PUT OUT AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The immediate step you want to do is unplug the device from the power outlet and call your local fire department. Even if you are able to take care of the fire on your own, it is important to have backup if the flames do get out of control.

For small fires, you could be able to use baking soda to douse the flames. Covering the fuming or burning spot with baking soda can prohibit oxygen flow to the flames with little risk of electrocution. Baking soda contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the same substance in standard fire extinguishers. You may be able to extinguish a smaller fire with a heavy blanket, but only if the fire is small enough to not catch the blanket on fire.

For big electrical 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 house. Extinguishers need to be inspected regularly to ensure they have not expired. If there’s a working extinguisher in the home, just pull the pin at the top, aim the nozzle at the source of the fire, and squeeze the handle. If the fire gets too big to fight by yourself or you are concerned the fire could block an exit, you should leave the house right away, shut the door , and then wait for help from the fire department.

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

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