There was a recent news report of a clothes dryer fire in an apartment building, causing over 30 units to be evacuated. Fire officials also said the building was so old that it did not have a sprinkler system. They reported the cause of the fire to be a clogged dryer vent. Failure to maintain dryer vent systems is the leading cause of clothes dryer fires.
Looks Can Be Deceiving (just because you can't see lint doesn't mean it's not there)
What do you think of when you think about cleaning the lint out of your dryer? Pulling the lint catch out and wiping it off? Maybe trying to dust some of the lint off the edge of the lint trap casing? These are good starts, but there is a lot more to do to really capture and remove the lint and dust that could be doing damage to your clothes dryer.
The best way to remove all the lint is to think about the life it leads. The lint starts in the dryer itself, on your clothes. It then leaves through an exhaust pipe and is run towards the lint trap. A lot of the lint gets caught here, but some other portions of it sneak under or around the trap and continue on into the ducts that lead the hot air out of your house.
Now it's time to check each and every one of these paths to find any of the lint that you don't normally see.
There is likely a lot of lint inside the clothes dryer. These could be little pieces and fibers that have made it around and through little holes in the construction of the machine and are accumulating. One of two little wisps of lint per load are not a big deal, but when you stack up a year's worth of this growth, it can be a lot of lint.
To deal with this, you may need to pull apart the frame of the machine and clean out any lint inside. This really should be done at least once a year as a part of your regular maintenance schedule. Whether you do it yourself or call someone in to do it for you, it pays to periodically take apart the frame of the dryer and remove any lint that is captured inside.
You may wonder why it is so important to clean your dryer so well. There are a few reasons:
Economy
The more lint there is caught up throughout your dryer, the harder your dryer is going to have to work to continue to blow hot air through the system and dry your clothes. This means it will take longer to dry each load and that is more money spent in power to run the machine.
Fire Hazard
Lint clogging up throughout the mechanical parts of your dryer can be very dangerous. All it takes is one spark to send the whole thing up in flames.
While it is easy to forget about giving your dryer a thorough cleaning since you don't see the lint, it is still important. Ignoring this simple part of your maintenance schedule can cost you - at the least in costing more to do your laundry, at the most in the cost of the loss of your home to a fire.
Dryer Vent Wizard, Dry Clothes Safe Homes is a member of the National Fire Protection Association and the largest chain of dryer vent cleaning, repair, replacement and alternation specialists in the U.S. with nearly 50 franchisees in major markets in the U.S. Mike Alder is servicing the Treasure Valley, Idaho area; he urges you to visit http://www.dryerventwizard.com to schedule an inspection of your dryer vent system.
Contact:
Mike Alder
Dryer Vent Wizard of Idaho
Phone: 866-498-7233
Email: malder@dryerventwizard.com
Website: http://www.dryerventwizard.com
Mike services Treasure Valley, Idaho, Ada County, Starr, Eagle, Garden City, Meridian, Boise, Kuna, Canyon County, Nampa, Caldwell, Gem County, Emmett, Boise County, Idaho City, Horseshoe Bend, Owyhee County, Elmore County, Mountain Home
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