Dryer Vent Safety: Never Far From Fires
Fresh Sweeps, as an important resource to safeguard residential and commercial HVAC and air duct systems, extends its expertise to another part of the home. One that is used heavily by a home’s owners and occupants as well as residents of rental units.
The clothes dryer, part of caring for clothing and linens, is something that can become taken for granted. That’s because the daily or weekly use of this basic appliance (along with the clothes washer) is so essential to healthy living.
What’s more, the fresh-and-clean appearance of people and their living spaces is a reflection on them. As a result, the clothes dryer’s reliable, safe and efficient operation is assumed to the point that it is rarely considered.
HOME FIRE STATISTICS SAY “PAY ATTENTION” In the United States alone, there are 2,900 reported fires each year from clothes dryers. This doesn’t include those that went unreported or incorrectly reported, likely raising the death toll well past the five deaths and one hundred injuries connected to them.
People suffer but so do the homes in which they live. Property losses exceed $35 million as a result of clothes dryer fires. And at the heart of these tragedies is a preventable cause, one Fresh Sweeps is ready to eliminate.
Dirty or clogged dryers. Between the heat that’s generated in the drying cycle and the flammable nature of lint and dust, it is no wonder combustion occurs to put the cause of 34% of these fires as the simple failure to clean the dryer well and completely.
No fire is a good thing. And those that are preventable are even worse. That’s why Fresh Sweeps takes the call to clean dryer vent systems from the appliance itself to the outside vent cover. All because the entire system represents the risk of clogging or dangerous accumulation of flammable materials.
Safety Starts With Every Load
With these five Fresh Sweeps tips, anyone using the clothes washer and dryer can take steps to improve the safety of everyone in the home or rental unit.
Tip #1: Remove loose or flammable materials from fabrics before washing or drying them. Some synthetic (polyester, nylon or plastic) trim pieces on clothing were never meant to experience high temperatures. In the same way, items that have a build-up of lint, leaves or pet hair should be hand-picked first.
Tip #2: Operate the dryer at the lowest possible temperature settings. High heat can not only be damaging to many fabrics, but increases the probability of a fire in the dryer itself or attached dryer venting.
Tip #3: Clean the clothes dryer’s removable filter after each load. When possible, remove lint from the dryer’s metal drum and plastic filter even following short or low temperature cycles. This slows the build-up of fire-causing lint and dust in the dry vent system.
Tip #4: Be sensitive to drying times that seem to get longer. A lack of efficiency in drying can be caused by the accumulation of material in the dry and dryer vent – even to the point of blocking them entirely. In the case of shared laundry facilities, each resident needs to be alert.
Tip #5: Don’t accept burning smells as being acceptable. In some cases, fires occurred because a dryer’s operator failed to be concerned by the machine’s smell. Thinking that dust and lint will “burn off” or be “blown out” through the dryer vent is a dangerous view.
GET THE SOURCE OF DRYER VENT SAFETY ON THE LINE by calling or clicking Fresh Sweeps now.
