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 United Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Oregon. If there’s an electrical fire from one of the appliances inside your home, we suggest calling the town fire department even before you try to put out the fire by yourself.
An electrical fire is scary and extremely dangerous, but there are a few ways to be prepared in case of an emergency. If one of your appliances is in flames, it is very important to not panic and remain calm. Follow these easy guidelines to help keep your home safe from electrical appliance fires.
Homeowners are able to prevent electrical fires from starting by following a couple of basic rules of appliance safety in a home. Be careful not to plug in too many devices into a single outlet—the wiring can get overloaded and then spark a fire, especially if there’s debris like paper or clothes nearby the outlet.
Sometimes we forget about the apparent dangers of larger household appliances because they are plugged in all the time, but they present as much of a fire hazard as smaller devices like kitchen toasters and space heaters. Larger appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher should not be left to run overnight or while you are not at home, and don’t keep a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, in order to prevent overworking their cooling systems.
Check all of the outlets regularly for extreme heat, burns, and buzzing or crackling noises that could point to electrical arcing. Make sure you keep at least one working smoke detector on each story of your home, and test the smoke detectors often to keep them in good working condition.
If there’s an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it can be tempting to douse the fire with water, but water should never be used to douse an electrical appliance fire.
Water can conduct electricity, and pouring water on or near a power source could give a harmful electrical shock. It might even make the fire even worse. Water could conduct the electricity to other parts of the room, running the chance of igniting other flammable items nearby.
The first thing you need to do is unplug the appliance from the power source and call your fire department. Even if you think you are able to put out the fire on your own, it’s important to have help if the fire does get out of hand.
For small fires, you could be able to pour on baking soda to douse the flames. Covering the smoldering or burning spot with baking soda will sometimes block oxygen flow to the flames with minimal risk of electrocution. Baking soda also includes sodium bicarbonate, which is the chemical in regulation fire extinguishers. You also may be able to extinguish a smaller fire with a heavy blanket as well, but only if the flames are small enough to not catch the heavy blanket on fire too.
For large electrical appliance fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should always be sure you own at least one Type C or multi-use extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers should also be checked regularly to make sure they haven’t expired. If there is a working extinguisher on hand, release the pin near the top, point the hose at the source of the flames, and press the handle. If the fire gets too big to put out by yourself or you are concerned the fire may block an exit, you should leave the house immediately, close the door behind you, and then wait for assistance from the fire department.
For the smaller appliance fires, call United Appliance Repair once the fire is under control and we will identify the reason for the fire and repair the electrical appliance and restore it to its original condition.
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