Emergency Appliance Repair

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

If an appliance emergency occurs in your home, unplug the appliance immediately and then call Cole Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in CITY. If there is an electrical fire from one of the appliances inside of your home, we advise calling the city fire department before attempting to put out the fire by yourself.

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

HOW TO PREVENT ELECTRICAL FIRES

You can stop electrical fires from ever starting by following a couple of basic rules of appliance safety. Be careful not to plug a lot of electrical devices into a single electrical outlet—the wiring might become overloaded and then spark a fire, especially if there’s debris like paper or clothes close to the outlet.

Sometimes we forget about the apparent dangers of large household appliances because they remain plugged in all the time, but they still present as much chance for a fire hazard as smaller appliances like toasters and space heaters. Larger appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher shouldn’t be left running overnight or any time you are not at home, and do not place a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, to prevent overworking their cooling systems inside.

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

WHAT TO NOT DO

If there is an appliance repair emergency such as an electrical fire, it could be tempting to douse the fire with water, however water shouldn’t be used to douse an electrical appliance fire.

Water can conduct electricity, and throwing water on a power source might give a dangerous electrical shock. It might even make the fire stronger. Water might conduct the electricity to additional areas of the room, increasing the risk of igniting other flammable objects nearby.

HOW TO EXTINGUISH AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The first step you need to do is to unplug the electric appliance from the power source and call the fire department. Even if you are able to take care of the fire on your own, it is important to have backup if the fire does get out of hand.

For small fires, you might be able to pour on baking soda to douse the flames. Covering the smoking or burning spot with some baking soda will sometimes block oxygen flow to the flames with minimal risk of electrocution. Baking soda contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the same chemical in standard fire extinguishers. You also might be able to smother a smaller fire using a heavy blanket as well, but only when the fire is small enough to not catch the heavy blanket on fire as well.

For larger electrical appliance fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should be sure you own at least one Type C or multi-use extinguisher in your house. Extinguishers need to be checked often to ensure they have not expired. If there’s a operational fire extinguisher on hand, just release the pin near the top, point the hose at the fire, and squeeze the handle. If the fire gets too big to put out by yourself or you think the fire could block an exit, leave the home right away, close the door , and wait for assistance from the local fire department.

For the smaller appliance fires, call Cole Appliance Repair once the flames are extinguished and we will identify the reason for the fire and repair the appliance and restore it to working order.

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Appliance Repair Cost
Appliance Repair Tips
Appliance Safety
Repair or Replace Appliances
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