Anyone ever had a dryer fire?

[FreshTressa]

I was just reading about them and had no idea you had to vacuum out lint. I NEVER have and have had my dryer 7 years!

I guess I had better get to cleaning. I think I need someone to help me move the dryer though.

 

[joshsmom]

Nope, I haven't. Vacuum out the lint? I missed something somewhere!!

 

[momrek06]

You WILL have a LINT TRAP on your dryer somewhere!

PLEASE, LADIES, clean out that LINT TRAP, and NOW! Yes, my DS was on our Fire Dept for one year prior to leaving for college and if he was here he would be telling you that LINT is HIGHLY flammable.

When DS was a Boy Scout they would ask the scouts to bring in all the DRYER LINT they could accummulate as they use it as a FIRESTARTER when they go camping...YUP, they do!!!

Get your manual, it you do not have the manual, call your manufacturer and ASK them where the LINT TRAP is and they will tell you....either on the TOP of the dryer or just inside the door of the dryer.

KEEP US POSTED!!! Let us know you cleaned out the LINT!!!!

 

[FreshTressa]

I have the regular lint filter that I always clean out, but I was reading online that you had to vacuum out the hose and the inside too because the filter did not catch it all.

 

[momrek06]

I have the regular lint filter that I always clean out, but I was reading online that you had to vacuum out the hose and the inside too because the filter did not catch it all.

OHHH, okay, phew, for a minute I was wondering about (in 7 years) how much LINT was actually in YOUR trap.....

VACUUM......wow, now that is some serious SPRING CLEANING.

I just moved and in my other house 15 years and NEVER vacuumed and this house is brand new (just built) and have no plans in the near future to haul the vacuum downstairs to my laundry room and vacuum out the hose..NOPE!!

 

[teacherforhi]

This happened in my dorm in college. Made for a huge laundry pile-up since there was only one laundry room in the dorm. Fortunately, I believe the only casualities were some underwear.

 

[clh2]

We did have a fire in our dryer. Don't know why - my DH is obsessive about dryer lint. Our exhaust hose is really easy to get to, so we clean that about 2x per year.

We don't exactly know the severity of it. A very small load of clothes had just finished drying, and I opened the door. I could immediately tell something was wrong, it smelled smokey. We don't know if the problem was the burner (it is a natural gas dryer), or due to lint. Didn't care either, that dryer was history - we never used it again.

The clothes weren't ruined, just washed them again with some febreze.

 

[Fan2CSkr]

I never thought about vacuuming out the lint. I do clean the lint trap eact time but it does seem there must be more beyond that. Now I will have a look tomorrow when I do laundry. Thanks!

 

[ZachnElli]

Dryers are one of the biggest reasons for house fires. My mom had a dryer fire, thankfully it put itself out right there inside the dryer and her wall didn't catch on fire. She did have to get a new dryer. The lint in the hose just caught fire, spread to the inside of the dryer. Could have been much, much worse!

 

[momrek06]

Dryers are one of the biggest reasons for house fires. My mom had a dryer fire, thankfully it put itself out right there inside the dryer and her wall didn't catch on fire. She did have to get a new dryer. The lint in the hose just caught fire, spread to the inside of the dryer. Could have been much, much worse!

Y I K E S!!! Look what we are learning tonight. I am going to tell DH!!!

This is a concern!!!

 

[Mishetta]

I clean out my lint filter after each load but then I too heard about vacuuming the part under the filter that opens into the dryer & the hose. We don't have a slim enough attachment for that so we called a company that only does that type of cleaning. After he cleaned it all out, right out to our outside exhaust ~ he had maybe a tiny fistfull of lint, maybe the size of an egg. He did say "oh, you must clean out your filter often?" Yeah, after every load?! Doesn't everyone? So I'm thinking that maybe you have more of a chance of accumulating more lint if you don't clean your filter after each use? I don't know but that cleaning that I had, was after 9 years of daily use at a minimum of 2 loads a day!

I did see this Christmas that they had those very slim vacuum attachments to clean out your dyer lint at Bed Bath & Beyond. They were also for sale at the Home & Garden Expo that came to Detroit too. (Along with the 'dryer balls' but that's another thread, right? )

Oh...I do remember that the dryer cleaning man (I don't know what else to call him?) said that we had the good type of hose that was hooked up to the outside exhaust. We used to have the thin foil looking accordian type hooked from dryer to outside exhaust but we had it replaced with a different type ~ thicker & looks like metal ~ not sure exactly what it is though. He said those flimsy ones can catch on fire very quickly.

 

[tmt martins]

My brother lost everything last year right before X-mas .Renting dropped ins due to job lost was just getting back on feet when it happened .All 3 kids were home from school sick and when it wentup it blew a fire ball up through the floor at the front doorway.

It seems the landlord hooked the vent to an outlet that didn't go out just a hole in the wall.

Thank god no one was hurt and all they lost was a cat

 

[momrek06]

I clean out my lint filter after each load but then I too heard about vacuuming the part under the filter that opens into the dryer & the hose. We don't have a slim enough attachment for that so we called a company that only does that type of cleaning. After he cleaned it all out, right out to our outside exhaust ~ he had maybe a tiny fistfull of lint, maybe the size of an egg. He did say "oh, you must clean out your filter often?" Yeah, after every load?! Doesn't everyone? So I'm thinking that maybe you have more of a chance of accumulating more lint if you don't clean your filter after each use? I don't know but that cleaning that I had, was after 9 years of daily use at a minimum of 2 loads a day!

I did see this Christmas that they had those very slim vacuum attachments to clean out your dyer lint at Bed Bath & Beyond. They were also for sale at the Home & Garden Expo that came to Detroit too. (Along with the 'dryer balls' but that's another thread, right? )

Oh...I do remember that the dryer cleaning man (I don't know what else to call him?) said that we had the good type of hose that was hooked up to the outside exhaust. We used to have the thin foil looking accordian type hooked from dryer to outside exhaust but we had it replaced with a different type ~ thicker & looks like metal ~ not sure exactly what it is though. He said those flimsy ones can catch on fire very quickly.

How much was the cost to clean out the dryer hose? Do you remember? And who exactly was it that you called?

We did the same thing with our OLD house. We had a plumber come and replace the accordian style hose (that appears to look like heavy aluminum foil) with a thicker/metal, LIKE YOU. I WILL be replacing this hose on this new house SOONER THAN LATER has I hate it, I wish I had mentioned this when the house was under construction but forgot about it and after it was done and we were in the house I inquired.....HHmmm..too late I guess!

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I don't know if you all remember the ship that caught fire in Miami I believe it was last year---It happened just off the coast---Well that was a dryer fire---The lint caught fire and it burned so fast they couldn't control it.

As for house fires caused by dryer lint yes I knew about that also and I was just as surprised as some of you---I've lived on an Army post for about 8 years now and about 4 or 5 years ago someones house on post caught on fire like that so the maintenance people came around and vacuumed out EVERYONES dryer vent units---Our dryer was in the basement so they just pulled the dryer out and used a wet/dry vacuum to suck out the accordian hose and then a flexible house that they pushed up into the metalwork that ran up the wall to the outside vent


Also I should add check your outside vent cover to make sure it is not clogged an all in one piece---Our next door neighbors had a bird in their outside dryer vent that flew down into their dryer and got cooked---Her Dh thought his DW had cooked something but after a couple of days it started to rot and stink--Just a heads up since we were on the dryer vent subject!

 

[Magickndm]

My dad is an insurance restorator, and dryer fires are very common.
They make brushes like these:

They work well and are much less expensive than having someone come out and do it.
Another big cause of house fires are exhaust fans in bathrooms left running.

 

[Seahunt]

Oh this reminds me of the time I almost burned up my SIL house! My DH & I were visiting his sister and her husband one time and her washer was right off the family room where I was sitting- the guys were upstairs doing something to the car and she was on the phone and I heard the washer stop and thought I'd help by throwing the clothes in the dryer for her. I turned the dial and immediately smelled a smokey smell, so I opened the door and there were actual flames in the back of the drum where the heating element was! I started screaming and the guys came running down and got it out right away, but it was really scary If I had walked away, the whole area could have gone up really quickly. I'll never touch anyone's laundry again at their house, that's for sure. I guess like my DH says: no good deed goes unpunished!

The guys later took the dryer apart and it was absolutely full of lint in the hose - the lint screen was supposedly always cleaned between loads so I don't know if it was because the hose went straight up to the first floor and then out and the excess just fell back and laid at the bottom of the hose next to the dryer or what, but they replaced everything from the outside down, including the dryer, just in case....

 

[pixiemomma]

I made the mistake of trying to dry a down pillow...not a good idea. We didn't exactly have a fire but there was some definate firelike activity going on and the dryer ceased to work. Oops.

 

[Molly Meow]

I haven't cleaned out my dryer hose - maybe I should do that. Ours just vents into our garage - we never attached the thingy to the hole in the wall, simply because it doesn't go to the outside. My DH and Dad thought it would be safer to have it vent into the garage rather than into the wall.

 

[fireman17]

This just happened yesterday. Dryer fires are very common.
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=002155a3-7b6b-490d-9d7b-f8847a29d94e

 

[Nancy]

Yes, I have...very scarry!

The lint buildup wasn't anywhere close to the trap, it was oin the back down where the vent hose goes into the dryer. The lint that started on fire was up a bit higher and to the side of the dryer.

Lucky for me that on that particular morning I did laundry different. I worked overnights then, I would get home from work throw a load in the wash and go get everyone up for school (except my 3 year old). After they all left the house I would throw the clothes in the dryer and lay down until 3 year old woke up. On this morning everything was running real smooth and I threw the clothes in the dryer while kids were watching some TV before school. Started to smell smoke and opened my basement door. Basement was FULL of smoke! I ran down into the smoke and shut the dryer off, came back upstairs and called the fire department. Shooed the kids off to the school bus (while they are hysterical) run up and get 3 yr old and we leave the house until fire department arrives.

It could have been so much worse than it was. If I would have thrown the stuff in the dryer and then fell asleep I wouldn't have caught it until the smoke detecter went off (in the kitchen not that close to the basement door)...by then it probably would have been a huge fire instead of being confined to the dryer. I am so careful with the dryer now, not only do I clean the trap constantly, I pull the hose off the back and clean out from behind on a regular basis.