Emergency Appliance Repair

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

If an appliance emergency arises in your home, unplug the appliance right away and then call C&L Fort Lauderdale Appliance Repair for local appliance repair in Fort Lauderdale. If there’s an electrical fire involving one of the large or small appliances in your home, we advise calling the city fire department before attempting to extinguish the fire by yourself.

An electrical fire from an appliance can be scary and very dangerous, but there are a few ways to be prepared in case of an emergency. If one of your appliances goes up in flames, it’s important not to panic and to remain calm. Follow these simple guidelines to keep your house safe from electrical fires.

PREVENTING ELECTRICAL FIRES

You can prevent electrical fires before they start by following a few basic guidelines for appliance safety in a home. Be careful not to plug in a lot of devices into one outlet—the wiring might get overloaded and then spark a fire, especially when there’s clutter like clothes or paper nearby the electrical outlet.

It can be easy to forget about the dangers of larger home appliances since they are plugged in all the time, but they can present as much chance for a fire hazard as smaller electrical appliances like toasters and space heaters. Larger appliances like a washing machine or dishwasher shouldn’t be left to run overnight or while you’re away from home, and don’t keep a freezer or refrigerator in direct sunlight, to prevent possibly overworking the cooling systems.

Inspect all outlets regularly for excessive heat, burns, and crackling or buzzing sounds that could indicate electrical arcing. Make sure you have at least one working smoke detector on each floor of your home, and test them quarterly to keep them in working order.

WHAT NOT TO DO

If there’s an appliance repair emergency such as an electrical fire, it might be tempting to douse the fire with water, but water shouldn’t be used to fight an electrical appliance fire.

Water conducts electricity, and dumping water on or near a power source might cause a harmful electrical shock. It might even make the fire stronger. Water can conduct electricity to other locations of the room, running the chance of igniting other flammable items nearby.

HOW TO EXTINGUISH AN ELECTRICAL FIRE

The immediate step you want to do is unplug the appliance from the power source and call the local fire department. Even if you can put out the fire on your own, it’s a good idea to have help if the fire does get out of hand.

For minor fires, you might be able to pour on baking soda to extinguish the flames. Covering the smoldering or burning spot with some baking soda can block oxygen flow to the flames with very little risk of electrocution. Baking soda also contains sodium bicarbonate, which is the same chemical used in regulation fire extinguishers. You also may be able to extinguish a small fire using a heavy blanket as well, but only when the flames are small enough to not catch the blanket on fire as well.

For large electrical fires, use a Type C fire extinguisher. You should always be sure you own at least one Type C or multi-use fire extinguisher in your house. Extinguishers should also be inspected consistently to ensure they haven’t expired. If there is a operational fire extinguisher in the home, release the pin near the top, aim the nozzle at the fire, and press the handle. If the flames get too dangerous to fight alone or you think the fire could block an exit, you should leave the home right away, shut the door behind you, and then wait for assistance from the local fire department.

For the smaller appliance fires, call C&L Fort Lauderdale 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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Appliance Safety
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