4 Ways to Prevent Dryer Fire And Keep Your Dryer Working Smoothly

With a few simple safety tips, you can help prevent a clothes dryer fire. Once upon a time long ago everyone took their freshly washed clothes outside and hung them on the line to dry. With clothespins in hand and the warm summer sun beaming down most homemakers let nature do the drying for them. Now we have modern clothes dryers that take all the work out of the process and make things easier on us all, especially in cold or wet months.

In order to keep our dryers in top-performing condition so that we don’t have to go back to hangin’ clothes on the line, there are a few things we should be doing to maintain our appliances.

  1. Clean Your Filter… Every…Load

Tackle the easy maintenance item after every load. We all know that dryer filters should be cleaned after each use but how often are you skipping it? Even if you clear it out after each use, your filter may still be clogged if you use fabric softener sheets in the dryer.

Test your dryer filter by clearing it of lint, then pouring a small amount of water onto the filter screen. If the water pools up instead of flowing through the screen, wash the screen in warm, soapy water using a brush. Rinse, retest, and repeat until the water flows through. Then you’re all set!

2. Maintain Your Drum

The dryer drum usually doesn’t need cleaning unless you’re drying a load of hairy pet items or a pillow that explodes. In those cases, try to shake the hair and grit off the articles before tossing them into the dryer. After the load is dry, wipe out the drum with a damp cloth to remove hair and grit or anything else that may be in there.

Should lipstick, gum, crayon, etc. accidentally find their way into your dryer, it’s OK to scream. After you cool down, however, follow this advice from Debra Johnson, the national home cleaning expert at Merry Maids.

“Get the stuff off by warming the dryer for a few minutes. (Toss in a couple of old towels or rags first.) Remove the excess by scraping it off with a hard rubber spatula. Tackle the remaining residue by wiping the area with a cloth dampened with a small amount of laundry detergent and hot water. Use a dry cloth to remove any excess water or suds,” she said.

3. Clean Your Dryer Vent Annually

Dryer exhaust vents should be inspected and cleaned at least once a year depending on the size of the household and dryer usage. In a normal household with standard use, once a year is adequate.

Dryer vents accumulate highly flammable lint, and failure to clean out lint is the leading cause of dryer fires. According to the National Fire Protection Agency. A plugged dryer vent can also burn out the heating element and cause you to have expensive repairs.

A telltale sign that the dryer vent needs cleaning is that clothes take longer and longer to dry. Have you noticed that you have to restart your load to get them dry all the way or are you having to dry smaller loads?

When it takes 2-3 cycles to dry a load of towels, it’s time to check things out. Another indication of poor or obstructed venting is that the dryer’s external cabinet or its control area is hotter than usual. If that happens, disconnect the dryer and check the vent immediately.Keep dryer working smoothly and avoid a fire, Dryer Fire

If you find that you have a clog or it’s been a while since you’ve cleaned your dryer vent, give us a call. Here at Daffy Ducts, we are CRAZY ABOUT YOU! Our mission is to inspire trust in our customers, partners, and teammates by providing a simple and seamless service experience from start to finish by being attentive, informative, caring, and clean! We began our journey to become experts in-home air quality and dryer vent safety in 2007 and have been getting bigger and better ever since!

Our service offerings include duct cleaning, dryer vent cleaning, blown-in attic insulation, and whole-home air purification with even more to come. We service residential (single-family & multi-family) and commercial customers and with our headquarters centrally located in Snellville, GA. We invest heavily in our team members with industry-leading training and certifications and top-of-the-line equipment. Our employees SHOW CARE every day, putting safety first and working with passion and integrity. We are proud to serve our community and to show how we are CRAZY ABOUT YOU! 

4. Keep it Clean!

The lifecycle of your appliance will be longer if you keep the outside clean as well as the inside. I have found that if you add cleaning your washer and dryer to your regular home cleaning schedule your units will last longer. Cleaning includes:

  1. Clearing away anything that may be on top of, in between, or around the units. This creates adequate airflow and allows your dryer to cool down more efficiently.
  2. Wipe everything down. Don’t let dust, debris, and lint build up on your appliances so the finish stays new longer.
  3. Clean underneath them. Lots of dirt and lint can get stuck under the unit and become a fire hazard.
  4. Check your duct connection, make sure that your dryer vent has little to no bend in it before the connection to the wall, and make sure the connection is secure.

Facts About Dryer Fire

  • Approximately 2,900 home clothes dryer fire occur each year, resulting in 5 deaths, 100 injuries, and $35 million in property damage.
  • There is 34 percent of home clothes dryer fire caused by not cleaning the dryer.
  • Fall and winter are the seasons when there is more clothes dryer fire at home, with January being the most common.

With these simple tips, your dryer will have a much longer life cycle than if it is neglected and your family will be much safer. As always if you have any questions or concerns about maintaining any appliance it is BEST to call a professional for advice before moving forward.

 

 

Subscribe to future blogs

Subscription Form

Ready to clean-up your in-door air quality? Call or schedule today!

We are a licensed and insured air duct cleaning business with 11+ years of experience in the field. When you want to work with duct cleaning professionals who offer a strong work ethic, reliable service, and outstanding results, we’re the name to know in Atlanta and beyond. Get in touch with us today to set up an appointment!

Air Duct Cleaning

Air Duct Cleaning when you live in Atlanta is an important step to improving your home’s indoor air quality. Daffy Ducts of Atlanta focuses on quality first with each and every job that we do. Our goal is to make sure all those who live in Atlanta and need Air Duct Cleaning know that Daffy Ducts of Atlanta is the first company they should call. We are truly a name you can trust in the air duct cleaning industry. Daffy Ducts wants to let you know that cleaning your air ducts provides benefits such as increased efficiency for your HVAC system. Air Duct Cleaning will of course improve the quality of the air inside your home as well. Excess amounts of dust can be reduced greatly by hiring a top rated Air Duct Cleaning company like Daffy Ducts. If you want it done correctly the first time, call Daffy Ducts for all of your Air Duct Cleaning.

Dryer Vent Cleaning

Dryer Vent Cleaning is also a very important service for those in Atlanta and surrounding areas. Daffy Ducts provides top rated Dryer Vent Cleaning Service in Atlanta. Dryer Vent Cleaning service reduces the risk of fire caused by excessive lint build up in the dryer vent. Dryer Vent Cleaning also increases the efficiency of your dryer and improves the performance of your clothes dryer in turn saving you money. When you get your Dryer Vent Cleaning done annually in Atlanta it will also increase the life of your appliance. We have had our service recommended by dryer repairmen who visited homes thinking there was a problem with the dryer, only to find out the dryer wasn’t working properly due to a clogged dryer vent. Call Daffy Ducts in Atlanta today to begin making your home safer.

Daffy Ducts Service Area

Daffy Ducts services all of Atlanta and large number of surrounding cities in the greater Atlanta area. Here are some of the cities that we offer our Air Duct Cleaning and dryer vent cleaning services: Roswell, Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb, Snellville, Alpharetta, Lawrenceville, Stone Mountain, Lilburn, Loganville, Conyers, Doraville, Norcross, Duluth, Buckhead, Midtown, Marietta, Dunwoody, Buford, Sugar Hill, Chamblee, Tucker and the rest of the Atlanta Metro.