Clean your dryer vents

[brantmacga]

My wife came in the room about 5 AM monday morning screaming "the dryer is on fire!!!!!!" of course, she didn't come tell me until she'd already gotten her clothes out so they wouldn't get ruined. anyway, i didn't see it, but she said there were flames inside, and the dryer was extremely hot to the touch. end of the story is make sure your dryer vents are cleaned. mine was FULL of lint and it overheated and maybe could've burned the house down.

 

[LarryFine]

Excellent agvice, and that you didn't mention any fire outside the dryer tells me you already have a metallic vent duct, and not plastic.

 

[infinity]

Yes this can be very important. My wife inadvertently washed a blanket that was "dry clean only". When she threw it in the dryer in nearly disintegrated. The lint screen and vent were stuffed with a huge wad of disintegrated fabric. Luckily she showed it to me when something smelled like it was burning. Generally I clean mine about once a year.

 

[boater bill]

Mine got so plugged I ended up replacing it.

What a pain, but a fire would have been worse.

 

[gardiner]

You might also wan to take care the lint screen is not damaged I had a service call a while back for the dryer breaker tripping when I got there so much lint had got through the screen it was blocking the breathing of the motor. It was a wonder that one didn't catch but from the customer I found out for two weeks the breaker would trip 3 or 4 times a drying load. Needless to say the breaker was toasted and had to be replaced.

 

[crice]

Not only lint, but the chemicals from dryer sheets build-up in the screen. Take one out and pour water in it. It is probably clogged. they need to be cleaned every couple of months.

 

[Davis9]

I bought a new dryer one time. It turns out that there was a birds nest in the Vent hood outside. Luckily it was electric and no one got CO poisoning.

Tom

 

[peter d]

A few years back I did some work for a family that got a new house on the old foundation from a clogged dryer vent. That really drove home the importance of this!!

 

[nyerinfl]

Yes this can be very important. My wife inadvertently washed a blanket that was "dry clean only". When she threw it in the dryer in nearly disintegrated. The lint screen and vent were stuffed with a huge wad of disintegrated fabric. Luckily she showed it to me when something smelled like it was burning. Generally I clean mine about once a year.

My girlfriend did this exact same thing, threw in a dry clean only blanket, what a nightmare, we still have red fuzz all over the apartment. The dryer took forever to clean and the lint trap was overflowing, I'm still cleaning this up 2 weeks later.