What To Do If An Appliance Is Leaking

12/1/2020 (Permalink)

While refrigerators and dishwashers are fixtures in almost every kitchen in Grand Rapids, they are frequently the cause of water damage.

Your household or business kitchen appliances can spring a leak and go undetected for quite a while. If the leak has been slowly developing over time with small amounts of water dripping, you may also find yourself with a mold infestation, as well. Mold requires a food source, moisture, and time to grow. Therefore a slow leak can create the perfect conditions for mold growth.

If this happens to you and you find yourself asking what you should do if an appliance is leaking, we’ve got a few answers and tips for you below. 

Minor Leak - Dripping/Puddle

If a small leak has been detected, follow these simple steps to protect your flooring and any items around the leak that could be negatively affected:

• Turn off the water supply to the appliance. A small issue can quickly become a big deal if circumstances should change.
• Soak up any access water on the floor and surrounding areas with a towel.
• If the appliance can easily be repaired, feel free to fix the issue, otherwise call your appliance repair professional right away for their expertise.
• Lastly have a trusted restoration company send a trained technician to evaluate if there is any remaining moisture below the surface of the floor and walls. In most circumstances, charges do not come into play until remediation begins.

Major Leak - Standing Water

• Turn off the water supply to the appliance immediately. If you are not sure where the water originally came from shut off water to the entire house/business and locate the source.
• Call your appliance repair professional right away for their expertise on whether the appliance should be repaired or replaced, as well as gauging the likelihood of a similar loss in the future.
• Call your local restoration company as quickly as possible. Time is money. If water has been standing for any period of time you will likely have some damage to flooring, walls, or personal belongings.

 Your cleanup and repair professionals can be onsite in no time to get your home or business back to normal. If you find that paper files and documents have been affected, a professional restoration company will have the equipment and training to be able to save them in most cases, for example. 

SERVPRO of South and Northwest Grand Rapids is ready and waiting to help you 24/7 with any kind of water-related issues, and we handle repairs and renovations related to fire damage, as well. Mold remediation and prevention is another one of the areas where we excel by maintaining the training and skills necessary to properly manage this particular kind of cleanup project.