Do you let your washer/dryer run while you're not home?

[sbell111]

washer - yes
dryer - yes
dishwasher - yes
crockpot - yes
oven - yes
computer - yes
roomba - yes

probably lots of other stuff

 

[jam217]

My bad experience isn't with flooding but with the motor. I started the washer and everything seemed normal. It filled with water and began washing the clothes. But in the rinse cycle something broke and the washer didn't re-fill with water. I walked into a laundry room filled with smoke. I caught it soon enough that the only damage was a smelly laundry room.

But even before then, I never left the house or went to bed with the washer, dryer or dishwasher going. It's too much of a risk.

 

[JVL1018]

My husband is a firefighter and he has been to many dryer fires, so I know not to run the dryer when I'm not home..but I have to admit, sometimes I'll run out while it's still going. It's rare though.
The washer I do, never thought about it being a problem before hearing this.

 

[Carly_Roach]

NO appliances are ever left running in our house (except for the refrigerator) if no one will be there to monitor them.

No exceptions.

Ever.

We're both old enough to have learned from other people's mistakes. I'm sorry to hear about the OP's relative, but this is just one example of what happens with unattended machinery.

 

[puffkin]

I will run the dishwasher on occassion when no one is home, but never the washer and drier. The thought of my poor animals being trapped in a burning house stops me everytime...

 

[Missy1961]

I never ever run the washer, dryer or dishwasher when I'm not home. I have let stuff run when I've gone to bed, but I won't be doing that anymore.

 

[jenlynn0808]

Not anymore...learned the hard way 11 years ago. I threw a load in the washer and left to go to work for a few hours (setting up my classroom for the new year) and came home to a flooded basement. Water was just hitting the top of the last step...DH wasn't happy!

 

[freckles and boo]

I grew up with a firefighter father. The dryer doesn't run unless I am home and awake. The washing machine is a different story. It is in the basement, on a concrete floor, sitting three feet away from the sumpwell and pump. We also have a water alarm on the floor next to the drain (which isn't useful at all if we aren't home). However, if I had a laundry room on a main or second floor I would probably be much more cautious.

 

[daughtersrus]

My sister had a similar accident but it wasn't the washer. It was the toilet. They were leaving on vacation and right before they got in the car, she used the bathroom upstairs. She flushed and off they went. Well, several days later, they got a phone call from her in-laws. Somehow the neighbor had tracked them down. They were living in a townhouse at the time.

The neighbor knew that they were on vacation and noticed several days later, the curtains in the living room were no longer hanging but they were on the ground. At that point, she thought that someone had broken in. The police were called and they found out that the toilet upstairs had been running for days since they left. The water had dripped down through the ceiling and had soaked the entire first floor. The curtains hanging had soaked up so much water that the weight had pulled the curtain rod right out of the wall.

Luckily, they had renters insurance with replacement cost and everything was covered.

You'd think that I would have learned but not only am I guilty of running the washer and dryer while I run an errand, I also set the timer on my dishwasher and have it run while we're sleeping. Funny thing is that we never leave the house until we're sure that the toilets have stopped filling.

 

[ols386]

I never leave my washer or dishwasher running if we're not home, mainly for the reasons described by the op. I don't leave the dryer running either. I'm probably super careful about this kind of stuff. I don't want to come home to a house on fire or flooded.

 

[SpectroMouse]

I run appliances when I am not home, and am going to stop doing this! I used to work with a girl that had a horrible house fire start from her blow-dryer. She dried her hair and then went out to take the dog for a walk leaving the blow-dryer plugged in. She came home to firetrucks!

I have also heard how dangerous it is to use the plug-in airfreshners. They catch on fire a lot.

 

[scrapquilter]

I do, even though I know I shouldn't. I really don't give the washer a second thought, as it is in the basement and about 3 feet away from it, there is a floor drain.

Obviously, the dryer is a hazard, so I usually don' t leave it going while I leave the house, but honestly, it is in the basement, and if I'm upstairs, it could be on fire for a while before I notice. I do clean out the pipe religiously with the special tool every month, so I'm not that worried about it.

The dishwasher I don't worry about either, normally I set it to run as I am going to bed because it is so loud I can't stand to sit in the living room next to it while it is running.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I do run both (and dishwasher) when I am not home (well not the dryer here in Germany which collects the water from the clothes in a basin which ahs to be emptied midway through the cycle). We take sensible precautions (I think) like DH changed the dryer vent hose every year when we had one and checks the pipes and hoses running into anything with water for visible wear every year also.

I have experienced two floods. Once when I was in college and renting a basement apartment. I heard "rain" while I was sleeping and eventualyl became cancious enough to realize the rain noise was comming from inside NOT outside. Water was pouring from the ceiling in the middle of the apartment. The upstairs owners were out of town. I eventually forced my way in upstairs and found the line to the toliet had broken and was spweing water. The bathroom and much of the hallway was soaked. The water had saturated the ceiling into the basment and the entire basement had about 3 inches of standing water in it.

Second time: the line to the ice maker on our fridge burst. I came home after being out most of the day to find the kitchen and basement below soaked. Insurance ended up replacing the kitchen floor and some cabinets as well as the ceiliing and flooring in about half the basement and one baseent wall.

So, I figure I can't very well shut off ice makers and toliets every time I leave. Sometimes things happen and I just try to be reasonable about what I do

 

[Fintastic]

I don't leave my washer or dryer running if I'm not home. I don't even let them run if I'm going to be asleep, even though it would be so convenient to put a load in the dryer before bed. I want to be there (and awake) to watch them.

 

[kimmar067]

I remember my mom telling me to NEVER leave the washer or dryer running when I am not home. And yet....I do it ALL the time!!

...guilty also....

 

[Crankyshank]

My washer and dryer are only operating when I am awake and in the house.

 

[BeccaBellePA]

I always TRY to leaving them running when I leave the house...reasoning to myself "If it doesn't catch on fire when I'm home, why will it suddenly happen when I'm not home." But then I always run down to the basement at the last minute and stop everything. Even leave the dryer door propped open so it's not too hot.

I am, officially, my mother's daughter.

 

[HelenePA]

NO appliances are ever left running in our house (except for the refrigerator) if no one will be there to monitor them.

No exceptions.

Ever.

We're both old enough to have learned from other people's mistakes. I'm sorry to hear about the OP's relative, but this is just one example of what happens with unattended machinery.

how about your hot water heater?

Yes I run mine if I'm not here which isn't a lot anymore.. going places with all 4 kids is much harder than I expected

 

[daisax]

Nope -- my mother had always insisted that we not do it at home, and then when I bought my townhouse it was driven home to me because the woman I bought it from had essentially the same incident as the OP -- my inspector saw the water mark, but agreed that it was a one time water mark and not a sign that the basement regularly flooded. There's a cement wall between my unit and the neighbor's, but that neighbor's basement flooded that day as well!

Floods are scary things. I had a first floor half bath with a crappy sink -- the knobs were tight and the drain backed up if you ran the water for longer than a simple hand washing. I didn't call a plumber because I barely use that bathroom and I figured I'd rather just put something new in than spend money fixing the old one up. One day apparently I used it and didn't shut the tight knob all the way. Went out, came home 6 hours later and heard this weird sound, then stepped in a puddle -- just a steady tiny stream backed up in the sink, overflowed, and went down through the linoleum and floorboards to the basement, covered my furnace and ran down over electrical outlets... it was really scary.

Everybody's afraid of fire (and should be), but if you've ever had a flood or an out of control leak, you really respect the damage that water can do.

 

[mamacatnv]

Never ever when not home or asleep.

BFF was 7 months pregnant and on bed rest. Her DH threw a load in the washer and went to bed. Their 9 year old DD woke them at 6 a.m with "Mom, why is the floor wet?" ummmm 4 inches of water in the ENTIRE house. She called me (I live next door) when I came running over the water was pouring out between the foundation and the siding as well as under the front door.
2 months in a hotel - $55K in damages - it took 3 weeks alone just to get the house dry and we live in a high desert where humidity is non existent. Thankfully it was summer and not winter.