Does you dryer vent needs cleaning?
One of the leading causes of household fires are from clothes dryers. The main culprit? Lint clogging the dryer duct. In 2017, the National Fire Protection Agency stated that there were around 17,000 fires reported yearly due to clothes dryers. These fires caused 51 deaths, 380 injuries, and $236 million in damages to personal properties.
How can you prevent such a tragedy from happening to your home and harming your family? Cleaning the lint out of your lint trap after each load of laundry is a good start, but it is not enough to keep lint from clogging the ducts. While this is an important practice for every day maintenance, it does not prevent lint from continuing to travel into the dryer vents. Lint gets dragged into the duct and will continue to collect, which in turn, blocks the air flow. The blocked air gets hotter and hotter in both the vent and the dryer, which then leads to a fire.
Prevent House Fires. Clean out your dryer vents
What are some signs to watch out for that mean your dryer vent could be clogged? The biggest signal is when your clothes do not completely dry after a single cycle. Some other signs you can keep an eye out for include: your dryer staying on longer than 30-45 minutes, a musty smell coming from your clothes when they come out of the dryer, your clothing feeling much hotter than they should after the drying cycle, your lint trap is holding more lint than usual after each cycle, and the room where your washer and dryer are stored feels exceptionally hot while the dryer is running.
Another big risk factor is the placement of your clothes dryer. If you live in a newer home that places the washer and dryer in the middle of your home, you could be at a higher risk of your dryer catching fire. Older homes have the dryer close to an outside wall which means the vent is relatively short. If you dryer is in the center of the home, then the dryer vent is much longer. The longer dryer vents can lead to an excessive amount of lint getting trapped because it is harder for the dryer to push the lint out. This puts your home at a higher risk of the dryer and lint causing a fire.
So, what can you do about all this excess lint?
Call the professionals at Fusion Cleaning and Restoration to come and clean out the dryer vent in your home. Cleaning the dryer duct will benefit your home in more ways than just preventing a fire in your home. It can help your dryer to work more efficiently. Your clothes will dry quicker, which means your clothing and dryer will both last longer. Your dryer will not be getting as hot because it will not be working so hard. And if your dryer is not working as hard, then it won’t have to run as long, which means a lower utility bill for you. It really is a win-win, and you will be asking yourself why you didn’t call FusionCRS sooner!
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