A typical appliance repair emergency could be a leak or smoke or even a fire coming from the household appliance.
If an appliance emergency occurs in your home, unplug the appliance immediately and call Excel Kent Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Kent. If there is an electrical fire resulting from one of the appliances in your home, we advise calling the town fire department even before you attempt to put out the fire by yourself.
An electrical fire can be scary and very dangerous, but there are a few ways 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 and remain calm. Follow our easy guidelines to help keep your home safe from electrical fires.
HOW TO PREVENT ELECTRICAL FIRES
Homeowners are able to stop electrical fires from ever starting by following a couple of simple guidelines for appliance safety. Be careful not to plug in a lot of devices into a single electrical outlet—the wiring might become overloaded and spark a fire, especially if there’s debris like clothes or paper close to the electrical outlet.
It’s possible to forget about the apparent dangers of large home appliances since they are plugged in all the time, but they still present as much of a fire hazard as smaller appliances like toasters and space heaters. Large appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher should not be left to run overnight or while you are not at home, and don’t place a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, in order to prevent possibly overworking their cooling systems inside.
Inspect all of the outlets regularly for excessive heat, burn marks, and buzzing or crackling noises that could point to electrical arcing. Make sure you have at least one smoke detector on each floor of your house, and test the smoke detectors regularly to keep them in good working condition.
WHAT NOT TO DO
If there’s an appliance repair emergency involving an electrical fire, it might be tempting to put out the fire with water, but water should never be used to douse an electrical fire.
Water conducts electricity, and throwing water on or near a power source could give a dangerous electrical shock. It might even make the fire stronger. Water could conduct the electricity to other areas of the room, running the chance of igniting more flammable objects in the area.
HOW TO EXTINGUISH AN ELECTRICAL FIRE
The first thing you want to do is to unplug the device from the power source and call your fire department. Even if you can extinguish the fire on your own, it’s a good idea to have backup if the fire does get out of control.
For small fires, you could be able to pour on baking soda to smother the fire. Covering the fuming or burning spot with some baking soda will sometimes prevent oxygen flow to the fire with minimal chance of electrocution. Baking soda contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the same chemical in standard fire extinguishers. You also might be able to extinguish a smaller fire using a heavy blanket, but only when the fire is small enough to not catch the heavy blanket on fire as well.
For big electrical fires, you need a Type C fire extinguisher. You should always be sure you have at least one Type C or multi-use fire extinguisher in your house. Extinguishers need to be checked often to ensure they have not expired. If you have a working fire extinguisher on hand, release the pin at the top, point the hose at the flames, and press the handle. If the fire gets too dangerous to fight alone or you think the fire might block an exit, leave the home as fast as possible, close the door behind you, and wait for assistance from the fire department.
For the small appliance fires, call Excel Kent Appliance Repair once the flames are under control and we can diagnose the cause of the fire and repair the electrical appliance and return it to working order.
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