Even if you clean your lint trap after every load of laundry, that’s not enough to keep your dryer from posing a fire hazard. You also need to clean the dryer vent at least once a year, every month is even better.
A few other tips:
- Never run your dryer when you’re sleeping or away from the house. If it malfunctions, it might not shut itself off when your clothes are dry. That can start a fire inside the dryer, which can spread within minutes.
- If your clothes are taking longer than a single cycle to dry, that’s a symptom of a clogged dryer vent. It takes just one-half inch of lint in a dryer line to reduce the efficiency of your dryer by 40 percent.
- Don’t turn your dryer back on if it has shut itself off mid-cycle. Newer dryers have sensors that can sense a clogged vent, and they stop to prevent a fire. If you turn yours back on, you’ll make the problem worse, and you could create a fire hazard.
- If your dryer vent is made from vinyl, foil or plastic, it’s a fire hazard, and a building code violation. Metal is the only approved material for a dryer vent.
- Remove your lint screen every now and then and shine a flashlight into the cavity that holds the tray. Pull out the lint that has gotten trapped in it.
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