An appliance repair emergency could be a leak or smoke or even flames coming from the home appliance.
In the event of an appliance emergency in your house, unplug the appliance right away and call Hayward Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Hayward. If there is an electrical fire involving one of the large or small appliances in your home, we suggest calling the city fire department before attempting to put out the fire by yourself.
An electrical fire is very scary and extremely dangerous, but there are a couple of steps to be prepared in the event of an emergency. If one of your appliances is in flames, it’s important not to panic. Follow our easy guidelines below to keep your house safe from electrical fires.
Homeowners can stop electrical fires before they start by following a couple of simple guidelines for appliance safety in a home. Don’t plug too many electrical devices into a single outlet—the wiring might get overloaded and then spark a fire, especially when there’s clutter like paper or clothes close to the outlet.
It can be easy to forget about the apparent dangers of large household appliances because they remain plugged in all the time, but they can present as much of a fire hazard as small appliances like toasters and heaters. Large appliances like a dishwasher or washing machine shouldn’t be left running overnight or while you’re away from home, and don’t place a refrigerator or freezer in direct sunlight, to prevent possibly overworking their cooling systems.
Check all outlets on a regular basis for extreme heat, signs of burns, and buzzing or crackling noises that could point to electrical arcing. Make sure you have at least one working smoke detector on every story of your house, and test them regularly to keep them in good working condition.
If there’s an appliance repair emergency such as an electrical fire, it could be tempting to put out the flames with water, but water should not be used to douse an electrical fire.
Water conducts electricity, and pouring water on a power source can give a dangerous electrical shock. It might even make the fire worse. Water might conduct electricity to other areas of the room, running the chance of igniting more flammable items nearby.
The immediate step you want to do is to unplug the electric appliance from the power source and call the fire department. Even if you think you might be able to extinguish the fire yourself, it is a good idea to have backup if the flames do get out of hand.
For small fires, you may be able to pour on baking soda to extinguish the fire. Covering the fuming or burning area with a layer of baking soda can block oxygen flow to the fire with little chance of electrocution. Baking soda also contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the substance used in standard fire extinguishers. You also could be able to extinguish a small fire using a heavy blanket, but only if the flames are small enough to not catch the blanket on fire too.
For large electrical fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should always make sure you own at least one Type C extinguisher in your home. Extinguishers need to be inspected regularly to ensure they aren’t expired. If there’s a working extinguisher in the home, just pull the pin at the top, aim the nozzle at the fire, and press the handle. If the flames get too big to fight alone or you think the fire may block an exit, you should leave the home immediately, close the door , and then wait for help from the local fire department.
For the smaller appliance fires, call Hayward Appliance Repair once the fire is extinguished and we can identify the cause of the fire and repair the appliance and restore it to working order.
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