I hate when that happens.
I spent about 12 hours today working on part of Bugster's birthday gift. Even though none of it was difficult, I'm tired tonight. Cold, too.
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| Bugster's birthday gift. |
The other day, I talked about cleaning about our dryer, because it was absolutely filled with lint in places that should not have lint.
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| See what I mean? |
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| That greenish lint? It wasn't moldy, but it was very thick. I couldn't get over how much lint there was! |
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| After I cleaned all this lint out, I took the covers off that are shown in the picture and cleaned the fan and the area where the lint filter goes. In where the lint filter hung down was the only place I found actual caked lint where it had gotten wet and dried hard. Scary to know that fire starters are made by scouts out of dryer lint! |
Just days after I completely cleaned the dryer and vent of lint a local family lost their home to a dryer fire. The lost everything. They were home when it happened, and they were able to get out alive, but it spread so quickly that they lost everything. I felt so bad for them, but I was also very incredibly thankful that our dryer didn't catch on fire in spite of the lint.
So, if you haven't cleaned your dryer out any time recently, please do.
Go now.
I don't want anyone to lose their homes or their lives due to something so preventable.
Seriously.
Go.
Now.
I too was amazed when a son took my old dryer apart because it was taking forever to dry clothes. UNBELIEVABLE!
ReplyDeleteThere should be frequent warnings on the TV to alert people to this danger, UNCLUDING on a sticker placed on the side of the dryer that MORE THAN the lint screen needs cleaning every so often. (((hugs)))
I am going to have Eric do ours this weekend. We do a LOT of laundry, and I often see stuff down inside where the lint trap is and fish it out with masking tape on a yardstick. But we never move the dryer out. We will, thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteIt is scary, Pat. Since I cleaned it out, my thoughts keep going to used dryers. If we ever get a used one, I'll definitely be making sure it's cleaned out before it's installed!
ReplyDeleteAmi, It will be interesting to see what Eric finds in there. I'm going to be putting it on a master schedule, so I remember to clean it out every 6 months to a year. We have to use the industrial sized snake on our main drain every 6 months to a year, so hopefully it won't be too hard to remember. I never used a piece of masking tape, (good idea, btw), to get the extra lint out, but I stuck the upholstery tool from the vacuum cleaner down in the lint trap every 2 weeks on average to get extra stuff out of there. I also used a long brush that is designed specifically for cleaning out dryers or cleaning the coils under a refrigerator, (it looks like a 2' long bottle brush), regularly, but it obviously wasn't enough. And I move the dryer out and clean under it and behind it at least 3 times a year-sometimes more often, so I was very surprised there was this much lint in there.
Are you going to take pictures, Ami?
I do think part of the reason our dryer was so bad was, because part of the weather stripping that was supposed to seal it tp the dust in the duct inside the dryer was drooping. We bought more weather stripping and replaced it, so the seal is good and tight now, so I'm really hoping it takes care of a lot of the problem.