An appliance repair emergency could be a leak or smoke or even a fire coming from the household appliance.
If an appliance emergency arises in your house, unplug the appliance right away and call Hoboken Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Hoboken. If there is an electrical fire involving one of the appliances inside your home, we advise calling the town fire department before attempting to put out the fire on your own.
An electrical fire from an appliance is very scary and extremely dangerous, but there are a couple of ways to be prepared in case of an emergency. If an appliance goes up in flames, it is important not to panic and remain calm. Follow our simple guidelines to keep your house safe from electrical appliance fires.
You can prevent electrical fires from ever starting by following a few basic rules of appliance safety in a home. Don’t plug too many devices into one outlet—the wiring might become overloaded and spark a fire, especially if there is clutter like paper or clothes near the electrical outlet.
Sometimes we forget about the dangers of large appliances because they stay plugged in all the time, but they can present as much chance for a fire hazard as small electrical devices like toasters and space heaters. Larger appliances like a dishwasher or washing machine should not be left running overnight or any time you are away from home, and don’t place a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, to prevent possibly overworking their cooling systems inside.
Inspect all outlets regularly for extreme heat, burns, and crackling or buzzing sounds that could indicate electrical arcing. Make sure you keep at least one smoke detector on every story of your house, and test them quarterly to keep them in working order.
If there’s an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it might be tempting to douse the fire with water, but water shouldn’t be used to douse an electrical fire.
Water can conduct electricity, and throwing water on a power source can give a dangerous electrical shock. It might even make the fire stronger. Water might conduct electricity to other parts of the room, running the chance of igniting other flammable items nearby.
The immediate step you need to do is to unplug the appliance from the power outlet and call the fire department. Even if you think you are able to handle the fire on your own, it’s important to have help if the fire does get out of control.
For smaller fires, you could be able to use baking soda to smother the fire. Covering the smoldering or burning area with baking soda can prohibit oxygen flow to the fire with minimal risk 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 to not catch the blanket on fire as well.
For big electrical appliance fires, you need a Type C fire extinguisher. You should make sure you own at least one Type C or multi-use fire extinguisher in your house. Extinguishers should also be checked often to make sure they have not expired. If you have a working 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 flames get too big to fight by yourself or you are concerned the fire might block an exit, you should leave the house right away, shut the door , and then wait for help from the fire department.
For the small appliance fires, call Hoboken Appliance Repair once the flames are extinguished and we will identify the cause of the fire and repair the appliance and restore it to its original condition.
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