Dryer vent fire

Users who are viewing this thread

SteveW

DIY Senior Member
Messages
1,282
Reaction score
22
Points
38
Location
Omaha, NE
Tragic story but great reminder for us all to clean our dryer ducts.

In my last house, we had an appliance repair guy come out to see why our dryer was taking twice as long to dry a load of clothes. You guessed it - ductwork was full of lint, severely limiting air movement. We were lucky to get that wake-up call that way instead of via a fire.

I got a round brush on a long flexible rod, sort of like in the link above, but it doesn't attach to a drill - you just push it along and it loosens up the lint, and usually when you turn the dryer on it'll blow it out the end (I remove the louvered door first on the outside of the house).

Two things I've learned along the way, to prevent duct fires:

1. Never use plastic dryer vents
2. Don't use sheet metal screws to attach metal sections of dryer vent as they tend to snag lint as it passes by and lead to buildups.
 

Maddog

Engineer
Messages
128
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
near San Jose, CA.
Not sure if this is smart or not, but every year I pull off the dryer vent hose and stick my electric leaf blower in there. A few seconds later, there's a bunch of lint outside the house.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks