We offer 24-hour emergency services; we charge for work, no questions asked. As you know, dryers are used to wash clothes. When drying clothes, lint accumulates in the system, causing the dryer vent to become clogged in the long term. This obstruction of the dryer vent causes the entire system to block.
If your ventilation is long, the chance of clogging is still greater than with shorter ventilation grilles. This is because the lint has to travel a longer distance if the vent tube is longer. Even when vents or pipes have curves and twists, lint is likely to build up and build up over time. Dirt and debris from your clothes stick to the wall of these pipes. As lint, dust, and dirt accumulate, they can cause a clog if ignored.
Dryer fires generally originate in two places: the dryer vent and the lint trap. More than a third of fires are attributed to a lack of cleaning and routine maintenance. This means that many of these fires can be prevented. The most common cause of fire in dryers is the buildup of lint in the dryer and in the exhaust duct. When dryers aren't cleaned regularly, lint buildup restricts airflow, and when airflow is restricted, clothes take longer to dry.
This is the first sign that there is a problem. Clothes dryers have at least one operating thermostat, a high limit thermostat, and a thermal fuse. The purpose of the operational thermostat is to measure the temperature of the air flowing through the dryer. This is the temperature of the air that dries clothes. If the dryer vent has been pinched or clogged with lint, air does not flow through the dryer. The operating thermostat is not capable of measuring the temperature of the air flowing through the thermostat.
Without airflow, the heat in the heater box will continue to increase until you activate the high limit thermostat. One family was talking about buying a new dryer because it took too long to dry their clothes. While investigating the laundry area of the garage, they pulled out the dryer to get to the ventilation grille. The ventilation grille was found to be completely blocked where it hit the wall and went out through the attic, and a five-gallon fluff bucket was removed from the vent. The roof's outdoor ventilation was also obstructed, as the lint met the outside moisture and obstructed the ventilation outlet.
A new dryer, less than a year old, caused a fire in a residential house and the insured thought it would be a surrogacy opportunity. After examining and recreating the fire scene by returning the dryer and other items inside, it was discovered that the landlord had rolled up an eight-foot by ten-foot floor rug and placed it behind the dryer for storage. In this process, they placed this rolled carpet over a flexible plastic exhaust duct and crushed it flat. The end of this duct had a fluff ball that completely occluded it and prevented air flow from passing through as designed.
This showed that it wasn't an issue with malfunctioning equipment but rather an owner's mistake that caused this fire. According to NFPA standards, all dryer manufacturers clearly indicate in their manuals that they should not use plastic or flexible ducts between their ventilation grille and clothes dryer. However, many households still use flexible and plastic ducts. Flexible vents can twist, allowing lint to build up and catch fire if it gets enough heat.
Only flexible transition ducts that are listed by UL or another approved product safety testing agency should be used. Serious risks occur when dryer vents do not go directly outside. Faulty installations can vent exhaust gases from these machines into attics, mezzanines, chimneys or interior walls which can lead to indoor air deterioration and mold buildup. If heavy clothing such as blue jeans or towels take too long to dry or clothes feel hotter than normal at cycle's end then there's likely an issue with clogging in your dryer vent.
Use your machine as intended; don't abuse it! There are materials that should not be dried in a clothes dryer; check product labels for washing and drying instructions. Certain plastics, rubbers or synthetic foam materials should not be dried in these machines either. Several fires have also been reported due to people overloading their dryers with too much clothing or bedding materials; this overload prevents air from moving through drum which causes it to overheat and start burning. The last improper use is placing cotton towels contaminated with cooking oils in your machine then leaving them there; tests have been conducted where contaminated cotton towels were dried then left in piles where they burned spontaneously.
Spontaneous combustion occurs when a flammable substance or fuel is slowly heated to its ignition point through oxidation; many substances begin releasing heat as they oxidize which is accelerated by heating in your machine. Once towels are removed then folded or placed in piles heat has no way to escape so temperature will rise high enough to ignite oil causing fire on towels or cloths. Firefighters responded to a dryer fire in basement of large two-story residence where owner was working on motorcycle when it fell spilling gasoline on floor. He used several towels to clean up gas then rinsed them placing them outside to dry but when rain started he brought them inside throwing them into electric machine; needless to say as they dried he began smelling smoke finding towels burning inside drum.
