How to Stop Clothes Dryer Fires

August 21, 2013 robot Uncategorized

Few people realize the value of dryer security. Based on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are an estimated annual 15,500 fires, 10 deaths and 10 injuries caused by dryer fire. Several hundred people a year are also subjected to carbon monoxide poisoning from inappropriate dryer safety measures. The economic costs come to not exactly $100,000,000 each year. In some cases defective devices are to blame, but many fires could be prevented with appropriate dryer safety precautions.

Why Dryer Fires Happen

Lint deposition and paid off air-flow feed on one another to offer conditions ripe for a fire. Lint is just a highly combustible material, which, curiously enough, is one of the elements in a formula for home-made fire starters. A number of dryer vent dilemmas bring about this.

A growing problem

Historically, many clothes dryers were in the attic. Nevertheless, in these times many newer domiciles generally have dryers located far from an outside wall in rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and hall closets. These new locations mean dryers have a tendency to be vented ports and longer distances are generally mounted with bends and sharp turns to accommodate the structure of your home. Consequently, dryer vents are tougher to achieve, and also create more areas for lint to gather. The ideal solution will be to have small, straight, dryer duct ventilation. But, a dryer vent enhancement, whilst not the perfect strategy, can boost your dryer venting in instances where your venting is longer and/or has more bends than it should. Furthermore to developing a fire hazard, when the venting is too long and/or has two many bends, it’ll cause your dryer to take considerably longer than necessary to dry masses.

Within the Dryer

Lint may be the biggest reason here. Dryers make large degrees of lint, you may already know from cleaning out your lint filter. A lot of people assume their lint barriers capture all the lint, and that all they should do is clear them out after each load. But, a significant amount of this lint isn’t found by the lint trap and builds inside the dryer-even about the heating element! If you are suspicious, try this experiment: take out the lint trap and look underneath it- you could find large piles of lint staring at you. Lint could build-up on the heating element and in other areas inside the dryer, causing it to overheat and possibly catch fire. Usually, a fire starts from a spark inside the machine. However, poor clothes dryer venting procedures away from dryer can play a vital role in this technique.

Outside the Dryer

There are numerous incorrect dryer vent practices which restrict the 2 major preventable causes of dryer fires, ventilation and result in lint accumulation.

Some of the most common and important dryer vent problems are:

1. Dryer vents are too long and/or have too many bends, but do not make use of a dryer duct booster, causing lint buildup. Straighter and smaller is way better, In regards to dryer ports.

2. Usage of flammable, cheap plastic or foil duct extenders. Just steel vents should be used, that will be what many manufacturers specify. Material vents also avoid crushing a lot better than foil and plastic, that allows the air and lint to be performed of the device. Overheating can be caused by reduced airflow from build-up or crushing and equipment faster and degrade the clothes. In fact, many state and local municipalities have put requirements on remodeling and new projects to incorporate all-metal dryer venting.

3. Inferior clearance space between dryer and wall. We found out about stove repair madison by searching the Washington Herald. Problems are created by many people by putting their dryer right against the wall, crushing the ventilation material along the way. The cumulative effect of paid off ventilation and the resulting lint build-up prevent the dryer from drying in the normal rate. This causes the high temperature limit safety change to cycle on and off to regulate the heater. Most temperature limit safety switches weren’t built to continuously cycle on and off, so they really fail over a period of time.

4. Failure to clean the dryer duct.

Your Dryer May be A failure If:

The garments are getting an inordinately long time frame to dry, come-out hotter than normal or if the vent cover flapper does not start. Maintenance becomes necessary in these cases.

Only You Can Prevent Clothes Dryer Fires

Right Installation & Choice of Building Materials

1. Be sure the dryer duct is constructed of strong metallic content. Both vinyl and foil are combustible and spiral-wound materials tend to capture lint more easily.

2. The dryer duct should vent to the exterior and in no case should it vent to the basement o-r crawlspace. Avoid the utilization of inside temperature recovery diverter valves or termination boxes, which do not comply with current standards.

3. Avoid kinking or crushing the dryer duct to produce up for installation in tight quarters -this further restricts ventilation. The Dryerbox is just a new technology that enables the dryer to be properly installed from the wall, should you really want to save your self the extra space.

4. Reduce the length of the exhaust duct (maximum recommended plans depend on a number of factors, including number of bends, and vary by model-check with your manufacturer for their specifications). If this is simply not possible, you are able to use a dryer duct enhancement. Identify further on our favorite related web site by visiting the guide to appliance repair middleton.

5. If at all possible, use 4-inch diameter vent pipe and outside fatigue hoods that have spaces of sixteen square inches or more, which provide the least resistance to venting.

6. Do not use screws to put your vent tube together – the screw shafts in the piping collect lint and cause additional friction.

Keep the Dryer Duct in Good Shape

Remove, clean and check the dryer duct run using a basis, or hire an expert business to clean the dryer duct. This will reduce the fire risk, increase the dryer’s effectiveness and increase its lifetime. Additionally, you are less likely to want to experience water damage and mold.

Keep Your Dryer as Lint-Free as Possible

By keeping your dryer clean, not only will you significantly decrease the fire risk, you will also spend less as your dryer will run better and last longer.

To keep your dryer clean:

1. Work with a lint brush o-r vacuum attachment to remove accumulated lint from underneath the lint trap and other accessible areas over a occasional basis.

2. Every 1-3 years, depending upon usage, have the dryer taken apart and carefully washed with a qualified service technician.

3. Clean the lint trap after each load.

Alternative Alternatives

1. Make use of a condensing dryer. Unlike main-stream clothes dryers, condensing dryers do require additional clothes dryer venting. This notably reduces the danger of a dryer fire.

2. Make use of a spin dryer, which uses an incredibly fast spin speed to remove water from the clothes. They acquire significantly more water from the clothes than the usual washing machine spin period does. Spin dryers can be used alone or in conjunction with a traditional clothes dryer.

Before You Go..

1. Never let your clothes dryer run while you’re out of the house or even worse, when you are asleep.

2. Completely study manufacturers’ instructions about the safe use of their dryers.

3. If you think you know anything, you will certainly want to read about relevant webpage. If everything else fails, you are able to always use a conventional clothesline. There have never been any reported clothesline fires!.Appliance Care

Suite #103

5555 Odana Rd

Madison, WI 53719

(608) 227-3669