Your clothes dryer can be a major fire hazard if not maintained properly. Most people use the appliances in their homes without realizing how dangerous they can be if they are not maintained on a regular basis.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that clothes dryers directly cause 16,000 house fires a year, accounting for 10 deaths, 310 injuries and over $84 million dollars in damage annually.
Your dryer can build up with lint from your clothes. Although there is a lint filter that you clean out each time you do a load of laundry, not all of the lint gets caught in the filter. The lint that slips through or past the filter will eventually get into the dryer casing, the dryer vent piping or even your walls.
Because the lint and the dryer are damp when you first the dryer, the lint sticks to everything. That lint will dry out and build up until it stops the air flow and causes a fire.
Lint build up will also cut down on the efficiency of your dryer. This means it will have to run longer to get your clothes dry, costing you more for utilities. This will also cause more strain on the dryer, causing it to wear out faster, costing you even more.
Maintaining your dryer is a simple job for any DIYer. Head over to the Next Page for help with cleaning out your dryer properly.
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Maintaining your dryer should be on your regular maintenance list and be done about every 3 months for a average family usage.
You will need a few tools for this job depending on what brand clothes dryer you have.
A pair of pliers, screw driver, 1/4″ and 5/16″ nut drivers or sockets. A vacuum and a brush.
I found this great video to show you how to clean out your dryer to prevent a fire hazard and help it work more efficiently.
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