A recent dryer fire in Oakville caused over $40,000 worth of damage, whilst we hope the homeowner is OK and they are getting the house back to normal, dryer vent cleaning is something that is seriously overlooked in Canada! There are no reported statistics available for Dryer Fires and most reports after a fire state that an inquiry is underway. We have not been able to find any stats on Dryer fires in Ontario or Canada … until today!
Each and every year, over 15,000 fires are caused due to lint build up inside the dryer and dryer vent. Lint, is extremely combustible, and needs to be cleaned from your lint trap after every load. However the lint trap only captures 40% of lint so 60% of lint is still gets past aiming to escape outside.
We recently received a call from a home owner in Mississauga expressing concerns after moving in to their home. The home inspector discovered the dryer was not vented outside but was just sat on the sofit with lint everywhere.There was no roof vent installed so this had to be added too.
Following a dryer fire in one of the adjacent townhouses Dryer Vent Cleaner were invited to inspect some of the 20 homes.
We inspected 6 of the homes and found all of them had long dryer vents over 30 feet and none of the owners knew that dryer vents ever needed cleaning through! These homes are 22 years old and had never had the dryer vents cleaned out. 3 of the homes had white vinyl connecting the dryer to the rest of the duct work.