Cleaning lint from the dryer cavity on a yearly basis is one way to prevent a fire from starting. If a fire starts, how do you minimize the risk of the fire catching on the wall around the dryer? Type X drywall looks like one approach that would be best for a dryer nook, any other suggestions?
I'm confused.
Dryer lint won't spontaneously combust and the heat from a dryer won't ignite it.
What's the concern?
Years ago, when I had a gas dryer, I had lint ignite. I had opened the access panel to clean out under there and it went poof. Having a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall in the laundry saved the day. I always position an extinguisher in a location that has a source of ignition.
Charlie
Now I'm confused.
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
Great! You can sleep soundly then. Unfortunately, things are different in my world.
Spontaneous combustion of lint buildup inside the dryer cavity, electrical fire inside dryer (Kenmore and Whirlpool have had this problem from what I can tell), gas leak, etc.
Why be sorry when it costs so little to be safe?
Does anyone know anything about the old style gas appliance valves with the pressure gauge mounted on them? The EMP report said they are a hazard but didn't elaborate. I have the gas shut off tomorrow to replace it with a ball valve. Just wondering if the hazard is due to gas leaking from the nipple or some other issue entirely.
In my world I clean them to prevent FIRE.
Be spontaneous....
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
Your world is broken.
Far better to deal with the underlying problem than continually fight the symptoms. While the cure for paranoia is expensive, the disease can be mitigated by suitable pills.
Better to take one little pill that spend thousands fireproofing the kitchen sink, the pet food bowls, all the door-knobs, and the hummingbird feeder.
It's too bad, isn't it?
You know that what I meant was lint ignition by the primary heat source, but prefer to be smarmy instead of contributing to the discussion. That is what makes you a troll
Just search for dryer fire and you can pick the ones of electrical origin from the results:
I guess these are all made-up scare stories.
The underlying problem is that you have a single cavity which contains heat, flammable material, electricity and/or flammable gas. Dealing with that underlying problem would mean hanging clothes on the line outside.
It's a DRYER. An appliance with a long history of fire risk. I don't recall mentioning fireproofing anything else, especially any of your ridiculous straw men. Where I live, an afternoon with some sheetrock and paint does not add up to thousands. Again, it's a different world in troll-land.
Well, if you only include residential dryer fires, the number is less than 13,000.
For the fires that do occur, 70% appear to be attributed to simple failure to clean the filters and vents. A regular maintenance schedule is a better investment than trying do deal with such fires after they start.
Note that 13,000 fires attributed to dryers works out to around 8/10ths of 1% of all residential fires, compared to around 46% for cooking-related fires, and around 19% for heating systems. Dryer fires barely even register as a threat.
A marginal threat should be taken serious; with the potential loss of life. Here is a collection of stories from 2004 - 2007 of dryer fires.
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
If you're talking lethal fires, the number for dryers goes from around 13,000/year to 15.
Including all injuries puts it between 400 and 500.
It's not a hazard worth worrying about.
That's a BIG drop.
When the opportunity presents itself, I do clean the vent ducts. I don't really go out of my way though.
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
Well, the truth is, if you're awake, sober, and not being crushed by a screaming horde of people, it's pretty hard to die in a structural fire.
Generally, it goes something like: ?? I smell smoke... Holy SHIT! the dryers on fire! Put it out! Put it out! AAAHHH! Hot, owee owee! Run away!!!!! . . . Sunuvabitch. I've got no eyebrows...
Agree, unless one is captured and no immediate recourse or exit.
Okay, the dryer is limited and minimal as a cause of fire.
Sleeping folks might be over come with smoke and never wake up. I don't know as a non-expert.
These grow back (G).
-- Oren
"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"
Good reference. Thanks!
Of course percentages don't matter when YOUR house is burning down.
I think you mean burnt down; maybe I'm wrong...
-- Oren
"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"
Actually "burning down". Where "Most houses with dryers AREN'T burning down" doesn't make you feel any better.
In order for there to be combustion of lint in a dryer, there has to be an overly large amount of it to grow near the element. To have lint buildup, you either need a dryer that is prone to collecting lint (some do more than others) and/or poor venting that retards lint exhaust from the dryer and promotes buildup. If you have neither problem, then you won't have a lint combustion problem either. But even if lint combusts, you may just have a traveling spark, and not true flames. Even so, can a fire travel outside of a dryer? Probably the only way to do that is through the exhaust system, and that is highly unlikely. I think that if there were to be a study of dryer fires in the USA, we would find out that the problem is not as great as people think.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.