I had a water heater emergency today, and as all of the drama was unfolding I realized how unbelievably ill-equipped I am to handle home emergencies. Now that I am aware of this problem, it's time to start schooling myself...
This afternoon I was in my home office working on my computer, and I started to smell something burning, like plastic or rubber. I immediately started looking all over the house to try to find it. I went outside to see if it was coming from there, but I couldn't find it anywhere. As I went back to the office it started getting worse, and I went looking again with no luck. Then it became unbearable' and this time when I went downstairs, the smell was much stronger, and there was smoke in the air.
What did I do? I started to panic. I have never had my own house before and totally didn't know what to do. My biggest worry was that something might blow up. I looked quickly to see if there was a fire and there wasn't. I couldn't see where the smell was coming from, so I turned off the power and the water heater, opened up all the doors and windows, grabbed my cats and headed out to the backyard where I called my landlord (who never called me back) and my husband, who headed home.
It seems that the water heater leaked, shorted out, and torched a plastic cover inside it. We aired out the house and will wait for the property manager to finally call us back and replace it.
Do you know how to turn off your water, power, gas? Do you know how to put out a grease fire? Do you know the major things that could go wrong with systems or appliances and what to do if they do? Do you know who to call for what? Do you know if the situation is life-threatening or could become so? If not, start here...
Home Emergency Basics:
1. Learn how to turn off your power, water, gas, and water heater.
2. Know how to fix an overflowing toilet.
3. Get natural gas and carbon monoxide detectors and a couple of new fire extinguishers.
4. Know how to deal with a house flood.
5. Learn how to handle all types of kitchen fires.
6. Learn how to respond to a house fire. Do you have an escape plan for yourself, your family and your animals?
7. And always keep a list of emergency numbers for maintenance, hospitals, emergency vet, and police.
More Home Safety on Apartment Therapy:
• Healthy Homes Are Safe: An Emergency Prepardeness Checklist
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The best idea I ever saw was a friend who kept 2-3 binders on everything in her house. When she sold it, she was able to give the homeowners a manual and repair history on everything.
Those are great tips, I'm like you and call my husband, or Dad in a super emergency!
My excoworker had a similar experience, but with her clothes dryer. Burning synthetics may release deadly fumes. Regular drills and related preparation help prevent freezing or panic. AT had a useful first aid kit post some time ago. A home first aid manual helped my mom many times when her kids were young. Some CPR classes still may be offered for free, that is, already paid for by your or your landlord's real estate taxes. I keep the business cards of emergency contacts, rather than a list, in my tote bag for use after hypothetically evacuating my home. That information also can be kept in the car.
I have fire extinguishers in every room and every year they get checked.
I know where the main water faucet is and the electric main switch.
awesome post!
I highly recommend getting a carbon monoxide detector. Just last week my husband and I installed our new nest thermostat (which is a rad little contraption) when it got cold one night and the thinking thermostat clicked on the heat for us. At five a.m. our carbon monoxide detector goes off. I was hoping it was just the battery telling us it was low but it was the actual alarm. I grab the three dogs and head outside, while he calls the fire dept. Luckily, it was just a small amount detected and were able to go back inside after they flushed the house. I still love our new thermostat but now it looks like it's time for a new hvac too. I'm glad this was just a little scare, but without the detector we would have never known when it wasn't so little.
What a timely post. Our water heater just broke last night! My husband was home but if I were alone I wouldn't have known what to do. Getting myself familiar with these tips asap!
One additional tip - make sure you can actually turn each knob/switch, in addition to just knowing where it is. I am petite and definitely not the strongest, and although I knew where the main water shutoff valve was, when I went to turn it, it was stuck (old house) and would not budge. Tools did not help. Luckily it was not an emergency situation and I was able to get my contractor to loosen it for me the next time he was at the house, but had a pipe burst or something I would have been screwed.
Also, I second swandiver's suggestion of a master house binder - the prior owner of my house left one for me, which included records the owners before that had left for her, so I have records and manuals going back about 15 years. It's been super helpful.
Here's something else one learns by experience (bleh). When the water heater dies and floods, the FIRST thing to do is turn off the water going INTO the water heater (you can shut off the main if it's closer, but then you have no water anywhere). I stood there and watched the little white caps rushing by me on the way to the floor drain before it occurred to me to shut off the source of the water!
So helpful! Thank you for this post. And I love the ideas above about a binder that's passed on to future owners - I wish the many previous owners of our 1920s home had done that - there are so many mysteries!