Malfunctioning Appliances Can Cause Electrical Damage

A dilapidated or malfunctioning appliance can turn dangerous by sending a surge of electricity into the power system of your home. If not stopped in time by a circuit breaker, it can do surge damage to the delicate microprocessors in many electronic devices, or damage other components of your home or belongings, such as switches, outlets and plastic components. At worst, it can even cause a fire! Prevent these hazards with regular maintenance, good general fire safety and by not ignoring telltale signs of electrical problems such as unexpected circuit breaker trips.

Key Takeaways:

A dilapidated or broken appliance can send surges through delicate electronic microprocessors found in many devices, doing permanent damage.
A power surge can also do physical damage by burning or destroying plastic components, switches, outlets and the like.
A very bad power surge can even cause a dangerous house fire, which is one of many good reasons for keeping smoke detectors and extinguishers around.

“there are some ways in which a faulty appliance can send surges of electricity into your home’s electrical system”