There'd been a little fire inside the dark inner recesses of my dryer! "Just a little one," Gerry assured me. But not a good sign. See, that's what these dryer fires are all about--the lint accumulates, gets really hot, ignites, and then if the conditions are dry enough and it gets enough oxygen, all the built-up lint in the unit and in your vents bursts into flame. And then you and all your belongings are crispy critters! Ok, maybe not, but it can be bad. Very, very bad. Not to mention expensive. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there are 24,000 lint-related dryer fires in the United States each year, resulting in $96,000,000 in property damages. So considering this dryer is 10 years old and I've never had it serviced before, I'll gladly learn from this close call and be grateful that's all it was. So my PSA for today: Call someone to come clean out your dryer vents! Gerry said it should be done once every 5 years. I used Machado Environmental, in case you're interested. They were very nice and professional, called last night to confirm my appointment time, Gerry arrived 5 minutes early, spent a solid hour working, didn't leave a mess, replaced two duct clamps that had corroded, and it all cost $120. Well worth it, I assure you. Oh, and as he left, he asked if I'd be "willing to read about common sense living." Thinking it was a little booklet on household safety precautions, I replied with a hearty "Sure!" After he'd pulled out of the driveway I looked at the flap, and it's a Scientology book called "The Way to Happiness." Oy.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Public Service Announcement
I'm sitting inside my nice air-conditioned house, browsing my daily blogs, listening to the new Britney Spears single online (out of curiosity only, I assure you), and sipping on a fresh fruit smoothie. Meanwhile outside in my hotter-than-hades garage......a very nice and bearded older gentleman named Gerry is sweating up a storm sucking 100 pounds of lint and dust out of my dryer and dryer vents with his giant shop vac. (I would take pictures to post, but I'm too shy to ask him if I can take his photo for my little blog.) I had no idea what a big job it is to have your dryer cleaned. So after he'd been at it for about 15 minutes and thinking surely he must be nearly finished, I went out to ask how things were going. He replied, "Well, I only just got started...." (Uh oh. I immediately felt shamed and dirty, dirty, dirty.) He was in the process of reattaching the front panel of the dryer itself, having just finished vacuuming out all the interior mechanisms. And guess what?
There'd been a little fire inside the dark inner recesses of my dryer! "Just a little one," Gerry assured me. But not a good sign. See, that's what these dryer fires are all about--the lint accumulates, gets really hot, ignites, and then if the conditions are dry enough and it gets enough oxygen, all the built-up lint in the unit and in your vents bursts into flame. And then you and all your belongings are crispy critters! Ok, maybe not, but it can be bad. Very, very bad. Not to mention expensive. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there are 24,000 lint-related dryer fires in the United States each year, resulting in $96,000,000 in property damages. So considering this dryer is 10 years old and I've never had it serviced before, I'll gladly learn from this close call and be grateful that's all it was. So my PSA for today: Call someone to come clean out your dryer vents! Gerry said it should be done once every 5 years. I used Machado Environmental, in case you're interested. They were very nice and professional, called last night to confirm my appointment time, Gerry arrived 5 minutes early, spent a solid hour working, didn't leave a mess, replaced two duct clamps that had corroded, and it all cost $120. Well worth it, I assure you. Oh, and as he left, he asked if I'd be "willing to read about common sense living." Thinking it was a little booklet on household safety precautions, I replied with a hearty "Sure!" After he'd pulled out of the driveway I looked at the flap, and it's a Scientology book called "The Way to Happiness." Oy.
There'd been a little fire inside the dark inner recesses of my dryer! "Just a little one," Gerry assured me. But not a good sign. See, that's what these dryer fires are all about--the lint accumulates, gets really hot, ignites, and then if the conditions are dry enough and it gets enough oxygen, all the built-up lint in the unit and in your vents bursts into flame. And then you and all your belongings are crispy critters! Ok, maybe not, but it can be bad. Very, very bad. Not to mention expensive. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there are 24,000 lint-related dryer fires in the United States each year, resulting in $96,000,000 in property damages. So considering this dryer is 10 years old and I've never had it serviced before, I'll gladly learn from this close call and be grateful that's all it was. So my PSA for today: Call someone to come clean out your dryer vents! Gerry said it should be done once every 5 years. I used Machado Environmental, in case you're interested. They were very nice and professional, called last night to confirm my appointment time, Gerry arrived 5 minutes early, spent a solid hour working, didn't leave a mess, replaced two duct clamps that had corroded, and it all cost $120. Well worth it, I assure you. Oh, and as he left, he asked if I'd be "willing to read about common sense living." Thinking it was a little booklet on household safety precautions, I replied with a hearty "Sure!" After he'd pulled out of the driveway I looked at the flap, and it's a Scientology book called "The Way to Happiness." Oy.
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3 comments:
Haha! I was excited to hear the ideas about how to live using common sense. Do you think the owners of the company are Scientologists or just bearded-Gerry?
Speaking of dryer lint, I practically had an entire blanket disintegrate in my dryer, so I could barely pull out my filter to clean it. I'm sure barrels of lint are now lurking under the vent out of my reach just waiting to ignite and burn me to a crisp in my bed. Perhaps I shouldn't have ran my dryer when I went to bed last night...
I'm sure the company itself is Scientology-connected, as the booklet has a sticker on it stating it's "Compliments of...." I, too, was disappointed. I was hoping to have a handy guide for getting wine stains out of carpet, making a mobile out of old wire hangers, etc. as well as tips on succeeding in life just by using the good sense God gave us. But, no. The booklet is quite funny, actually, and may warrant a blog post of its own later.
As for your dryer being full of disintegrated blanket, there are some things you can do. For example, the front panel of the unit should be attached by screws on the bottom or sides. If you remove that panel you can clean out the innards using the hose attachment on your vacuum. Also, you can undo the clamp connecting the vent hose to the wall and suck out a bunch of lint that lingers there. And as Gerry reminded me, always always always clean the lint tray after every load.
Denise...your blog makes me LAUGH! Your commute sounded horrible and I can totally relate. I appreciate the lint post... I bought my dryer approx 6 yrs ago for $25 from a neighbor....I'm sure there are scary things lurking in there.....
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