From Ovens to Dishwashers, Here's What to Do When Your Appliances Go Haywire

So, let’s assume that your appliance has given up the ghost in catastrophic fashion. What should you do while you wait for the repairman to show up? There are a lot of reasons that your appliances might go out catastrophically, we’ve talked about many of them at one point or another. But the how isn’t as important this week as “what should you do in the meantime?” Your first step should naturally be to call in a professional, but you have to deal with things in between when you call and when they get there to solve the problem.

Oven

Just like with your dryer, your first step is to shut off the oven. Whether that is via the breaker or by turning it off from the display control is dependent on the situation.

If you have a fire extinguisher, go ahead and use it now. A ruined dinner is much better than a ruined house.

Once you've secured your immediate safety, you will definitely want to have a professional look it over. A fire is often a sign of a leaking gas line, sparking internal components, or damaged protective coatings or heating elements. While that is not always the cause it's also better to have a professional tell you that than trying to definitively say on your own and finding out later that you were incorrect.

In the meantime though, you can take the time to air out your kitchen, remove any dishes or food from your oven, but don't try to get to anything that might be stuck in the heating element. If that is where the source of the problem is, your technician of choice is going to want to see that.

Refrigerator and or Freezer

So your refrigerator or freezer decided that they just weren’t going to keep things cold? That’s rough. Sadly, your day is now on a timer, as you have about 8 hours before you start losing the food that’s in there. To avoid having food spoil, here’s a few steps to follow.

Your first step is to prioritize. What has to be kept cold (milk, greens, meats), what can safely warm up (lunch for today? Bread? Fruits? Condiments?) and what you’ll have to throw out (yes you wanted to have those leftovers for lunch tomorrow, but space is at a premium sadly.)
If you have a separate freezer, transfer everything that needs to be kept frozen first.
Next if you have coolers or can get hold of some of those cheap foam ones, that’s an option for the rest of your cold goods.
Make sure that if you go with this route that you also purchase bags of ice to help maintain the temperature.
Once you’ve taken care of your food, you’ve got an important decision to start turning over. What’s your limit for a repair? What point do you consider “not worth it” when it comes to repairing versus purchasing a new refrigerator or freezer? While we will always suggest repairing if possible, we’re practical just like you. Sometimes the cost of repairing is too high, and that is what you need to consider while you wait.

Clothes Washer

All you wanted was to knock out that pile of laundry, and now your laundry room is flooding and it’s seeping into the room beyond. What are your next steps?

Start by making sure that neither you nor your family are anywhere near the water. That needs to be your first step, to ensure no one is stepping into an electrified puddle of water. While that might sound extreme, it’s better to ‘act as if’ when it comes to your safety and proceed forward after that.
Your washer has high-voltage components and getting shocked is not something on anyone’s to-do list.

Now that you know that no one living is in or near the water, time to find out if you can shut it off. See if you can find the plug and see if the water has hit the plug. If not, great! Go through the water, shut it off and unplug it. If yes, go to your breaker and shut off that fuse.
Now that you’re safe, grab whatever is in the washer and remove it to let the water inside dissipate easier and let your repairman get a better look.
Your next step is cleaning up the water. Towels, mops, and wet/dry shop vacs are all options for getting all of them. What matters here is not allowing it to sit.
If it has soaked into your subfloor or you suspect that it has, see if you can pry up a corner of the tile, hardwood, or carpet to inspect things. If it’s sagging or spongey, it’s probably soaked and is going to need replacing, unfortunately. At that point, we’re as clueless as the next person, so we suggest calling a restoration company.
Make sure to clean and disinfect the entire area that was soaked, regardless of the sub-flooring. You don’t want to risk mold growing in this area, which is why getting things dried out is so important.

Clothes Dryer

Now, we did cover this in more depth in last week’s post, so we’ll just hit the high points and point you down to the ‘Additional Reading” section for the link.

If you can get to the plug or the breaker, turn off the dryer as soon as you smell burning or see smoke.
Provided you can see that this is definitely JUST smoke and not flame, try to get a good airflow through the room to get the smoke out of the room, but do NOT open the dryer itself.
Do not approach until the smoke stops coming from the machine or it stops smelling like something is burning.
Don’t start the dryer again. Leave the lint and vent trap alone as that is most likely where things started smoking or burning.
When you can remove your clothes, be careful. They may be signed, and spots like metal buttons could still be hot enough to burn.

Dishwasher

Having your dishwasher flood is similar but not quite the same as having your washer flood and so the steps for it will be also similar but not the same.

Again, start by making sure that you, your family, and your pets are not in contact with the water.
If possible unplug from your kitchen, if not possible go to your breaker and flip the switch for your dishwasher from there.
Carefully remove all of your dishes from the dish rack and place them into your sink. We can figure out washing or drying as needed once the mess is handled.
Check the bottom where the dishwasher normally drains to see if there's anything blocking the drain. We advise wearing gloves for this part both because slimy food is gross and because you don't know what could be causing the blockage.
While you wait to see if the water starts draining again go back up and reread our section regarding the clothes washer about damage to your subfloor, disinfecting and cleaning up the mess.

Is there anything that we missed? Either steps that you were requested to take or other tips you had suggested? Let us know on our Facebook page as always we enjoy hearing from you.

As always, if you so choose, appliance rescue service is here for you. We service homes just like yours from addison, to mckinney, from Frisco to Carrollton,. And our top goal is and always will be getting your home running smoothly so that you can get back to doing what you do best.

You can reach out to us by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or by going to our website. We will work with you to set up an appointment that fits your schedule.

Additional Reading

Dryer Fires

37 Reasons To Have Your Appliances Maintained Regularly

How an Appliance Repair Call Works

Don't Let Your Home Become a Haunted House

We’re a day late, but still very much in the spooky spirit at Appliance Rescue Service HQ! We’ve waited all year long for our favorite holiday, and we’re back with some of the terrors that can plague your home. Now join us as we dive into a haunted Halloween story that could take place in your very own kitchen.

It's a dark and stormy night, as any good Halloween should be. You are baking away in your kitchen, looking forward to handing out goodies for the few brave trick-or-treaters. All is quiet in your home, and it’s looking to be a good night.

When you start smelling smoke, you think it must be the cookies you have going in the oven. But no, your oven isn't up to temperature yet, and the cookies are still in front of you. You open up the oven, thinking maybe there's something burning on the bottom, but no, there's nothing there, and yet the smell of smoke is getting stronger.

You rush around looking for the source, and you keep coming back to your oven. That's when you notice there's a flicker coming from behind. Your wiring finally gave out and caught fire during the preheating stage.

You rush to turn off the oven and grab your emergency fire extinguisher that you keep handy. Nothing else caught fire; nothing else has been damaged, except for the back of your stove and a bit of your wall. But the smell is gone; the fire is gone.

You take a deep breath thanking heaven that it's not as bad as it could have been. Except now you hear a dripping. Drip drip drip. You take a deep breath and hope that the trick-or-treaters will forgive you because it seems like there's yet another problem. You start to search, and you find that this time, there is an issue with your dishwasher. It's a matter of your dishwasher valves having given out. You can't unplug it. You aren’t even sure where that plug is.

So you rush to grab towels from your linen closet and throw them on the floor in front of it, praying that the damage won't be too bad and that you can catch it all in time. What else could possibly go wrong, you moan to yourself.

Except it's Halloween, and that's a question you should never ask. As you kneel on the floor, picking up soaking wet towels to toss into the wash, there's a rattle, a rattle and a shake, and a vibrating unholy sound that is one part screaming metal and one part rattling of the chains of the Damned.

You rush to your laundry room to find that it has rattled itself away from the wall and is even louder when you're standing in front of it. The clothes inside of it are perfectly fine, but you're not so certain about the wall. In rattling its way forward, your dryer has shaken down everything from the wall above it and is currently playing tug-of-war with both the electrical outlet and the vent housing. At this point, all you can do is pray that the lint catch has been cleaned recently and that it doesn't catch on fire as well. As you step forward to try and shove the dryer back into place, or maybe unplug it you, you slip.

Your feet go out from under you, and you land smack on your back, feeling like you’ve been horribly maligned by someone designing a scene for one of the Final Destination movies. You stare up at the ceiling and notice that there are spots of mold creeping across your ceiling. Had they been there long? Were they the reason that this whole night had kicked off? Just one long hallucination induced by black mold?

We hope you enjoyed that haunted tale, but take heed of the dangers that it represents. As taking care of your home and it’s needs means it will take care of you as well. Other than the sounds that your dryer might make having been kicked up a little for narrative embellishment, everything we pointed out as a potential failure point for a non-maintained appliance can actually happen. All of these are issues that can occur in any home with any appliance. All of these spooky instances can and do happen in your home when appliances aren't cared for properly or regularly. Some appliances, like your oven or your dishwasher, might be able to get away with only yearly maintenance checks. Others, like your refrigerator, your dryer, or your ice maker, require more frequent checks, typically every 6 months if not every three.

Appliance Rescue Service offers just that. We can work with you to set up a recurring maintenance schedule so that you don't have to worry about these issues. We review your appliances from top to bottom, looking for issues before they become hazardous to you or your home. If you're interested in finding out more about how we can work with you to ensure your home keeps running smoothly, you can give us a call at ((214) 599-0055), or reach out to us through our website. We will work with you to set up a time that fits best with your schedule.

Additional Reading
Halloween Horrors in Your Home

37 Reasons To Have Your Appliances Maintained Regularly

When Disaster Strikes: Your Action Plan for Appliance Emergencies

From Ovens to Dishwashers, Here's What to Do When Your Appliances Go Haywire