Clothes Dryer Safety!!!

[chernabog]

Only because my family and I suffered a close call the other day, I just wanted to remind everyone how inportant it is to keep your clothes dryer clean and lint free!!!

On Tuesday, I came home from work at about 3:00 and walked downstairs to hang up my coat and leave my shoes, when I smelled something burning. I noticed that my wife had the dryer going and figured that it must be coming from the laundry room. When I walked in to the room, the smell was so bad that I was surprised I couldn't see smoke. I unplugged the dryer and took the clothes out and checked to make sure that nothing was smoldering. It wasn't, so I let it sit until yesterday, when I was off from work. When I took the dryer apart, the 4 inch vent tube and hose was so clogged with lint that it only had about an inch and a half airway from beginning to end. The lint had backed up into the dryer and was laying around the pilot light and burner. And sure enough, I pulled out a small clump of lint that had been burning!!!

Needless to say, I spent that better part of yesterday afternoon replacing the vent tube and hose and cleaning out the entire inside of the dryer! This was simply a case of out of sight, out of mind! We've had the dryer for six years and although we regularly clean the lint trap with every load, I just never thought to keep the rest of the dryer clean!!!

I'm just so thankful that I didn't have to work late, as my wife and kids were upstairs playing and never smelled a thing, or worse, that we didn't leave the house while the dryer was going

Just a reminder for my friends on The Dis!!!

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I'm glad you found it time. I never the dryer on when were away either because of what happen to you!

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

My DH cleaned our vent hose out last spring. He said it was quite full of lint.

Lori

 

[Nancy]

I had a dryer fire, it scared the heck out of me! I always cleamed the lint trap too, but this buildup was down in the back of the machine. I now clean and vacuum the lint filter and once a year make dh take off the back and clean it out.
I used to turn on the dryer and leave, I no longer do that. I got lucky with the fire. I used to work overnight, so in the morning I would do a load of wash, throw it in the dryer and go to sleep as soon as the 2 older kids left for school. DD #3 used to sleep in late, so I could get in at least 2 hours before she woke up. This day I threw the load in the dryer BEFORE sending the kids off to school, as they were leaving to go to the bus stop I could smell the fire, I open the basement door and see all the smoke. If I would have waited and threw it after they walked out the door and then went to sleep it would have been horrible, I caught it really fast before it could spread.

 

[mickeyboat]

Thank you for the reminder. It's a good time of year to do this, the same time you change the batteries in the smoke detectors!

Denae

 

[Mishetta]

I had a metal tubing installed from dryer to outside vent which is supposed to be safer than the accordian softer stuff (was it plastic or what) I used to have. Also, last year I had a company come out to clean it & he only found a small handful of lint down below the filter area (which is like a trap) after 9 years of daily use. I do clean my lint filter after each use & I also wash the filter with soap & water maybe once per month.

I read on the DIS that if you took your filter & ran water on it, if the water didn't pass thru, you needed to wash it to avoid any disasters so I do that now too! I think this board has probably saved a lot of people a lot of pain! Thanks for sharing!

 

[holycow]

thanks for the reminder! so glad all worked out well and you are a great dad and took care of the dryer!


Holycow

 

[Kermit]

Also, last year I had a company come out to clean it & he only found a small handful of lint down below the filter area (which is like a trap) after 9 years of daily use.

What kind of company did you have do this? I've been wanting to hire somebody to clean mine because my dryer is in the middle of the house and the outlet on the outside of the house is on the side, which means there must be at least 20 feet of tubing. I can't think of a good way to clean it out, but there must be some type of professional who could do it.

 

[belleandthebeast]

I never, ever leave the dryer on when I leave the house. Mainly because of my fear of a fire. My new roomate, however, fails to follow the rules and I have come home a couple of times to find him not there and the dryer on.

Thanks so much for posting this. I never thought to clean anything but the lint trap!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Yikes, dryers are the number one cause of house fires. Very scary. I posted here this summer when we had a close call with our toaster over. It came on by itself and thankfully we were home to unplug it or we would have had a house fire.

We just got a new dryer and it's drying the clothes so much fast than the other dryer and I know that one reason is that the vent had a lot of lint in it.

Glad everything turned out ok for you! I know that I didn't sleep the night after our toaster oven incident. I just kept thinking of the "what ifs".

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

My neighbor had a dryer fire. It cost 50k in house repairs 10 years ago and she was in a camper on site for 6 months.
Thanks for the reminder, plan to clean dryer this evening.

 

[puffkin]

You should replace the soft/accordian type hose with a solid piping and clean it out at least once a year. This will also prolong the life of your dryer. I NEVER leave the drier on when I am not home. Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes those automatic sensors fail, and if you use that feature your dryer could be running for hours, posing a risk of over heating.

 

[chernabog]

That was the other problem that I fixed yesterday. The push start button was keeping the dryer running through all it's cycles. Read on the internet, in several fix-it sites, to check the push-start button. Sometimes the contacts are touching and that causes the malfunction. They suggested replacing the unit. I turned one of the contacts around and it gave me a little bit more space between the contacts. Now it works fine!!!