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.
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.
Do you have the wrong hose connecting your dryer vent? The chances are you do as we see a lot of dryer vents and dryers that are using the WRONG DRYER HOSE! That’s wrong determined by the actual dryer manufacturers themselves not us. By having the wrong dryer hose on your dryer it could invalidate your dryers warranty in the event of any warranty call for an issue. When we go to homes to carry out dryer vent cleaning we see this all the time.
On the back of all modern dryers (missing on some older ones) there is a warning label that states not to use plastic of thin foil hose yet most people are using thin foil and vinyl in older homes. Why is this such a big deal, well if ever a fire took place and your insurance company wanted an excuse not to pay out they have a valid excuse. It states clearly in black and white not to use vinyl or thin foil hose.
Whats Wrong With My Dryer Hose?Vinyl hose or thin foil hose that most leading stores sell are against what the dryer manufacturer recommends yes they quote they are UL2158A rated but they are not all metal the so called foil is a laminate that contains plastic. Thin foil hose or vinyl should not be used, the dryer warning label and owners manual say so. We cannot fathom out why they sell them as dryer vent hose when they should not be used. In the USA there were several class action suits against the box stores.
Best Buy dryer vent class action suit
Washington, DC: A class action settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit pending against Best Buy Stores, L.P. (“Best Buy Stores” or “Best Buy” or “Defendant”) in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (styled Frankle v. Best Buy Stores, L.P., Civil Action Case No. 08-5501 JRT/JJG) alleging, among other things, that Best Buy sold clothes dryers in its retail stores throughout the United States and also sold delivery and installation services for the dryers and that, in the owner’s manuals enclosed with several models of clothes dryers, and sometimes attached to the backs of the dryers themselves, there is a warning label and other instructions, which, among other things, warns against and arguably prohibits the installation of metal foil transition ducts or vents when installing the dryer, according to the Best Buy Metal Foil Dryer Duct Or Vent Installation class action settlement notice … The rest can be read here http://www.bigclassaction.com/settlement/best-buy-dryer-settlement-class-action.php
May 21 2008 (Reuters) – Appliance retailers Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O), Lowe’s Cos Inc (LOW.N) and hhgregg Inc (HGG.N) were charged with improperly installing dryer vents in federal lawsuits seeking class-action status on Wednesday.
The lawsuits state the retailers’ installers attached metal foil or plastic vents to dryers sold to consumers instead of heavy metal ones recommended by manufacturers, creating conditions that could cause fires or death.
The suits seek unspecified monetary damages and corrective action for consumers whose vents were installed improperly. Appliance retailers typically charge a fee for installation.
“These retailers are selling their installation services and then they are (installing) in a way that they know can ultimately be a fire hazard,” said Paul Geller, a Boca Raton, attorney who represents plaintiffs in the lawsuits … The rest can be read here http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/21/appliances-lawsuit-idUSN2144007020080521
It was determined in the HHgreg lawsuit that dryer manufacturers could void the warranty should they recognize the wrong hose was used to connect the cryer to the wall.
They later realized, however, that installers attached a flexible metal foil vent, even though the dryer included a sticker that explicitly stated, “Use a heavy metal vent … do not use metal foil vents.”
By ignoring the warning, the suit says, the company voided manufacturers’ warranties and created a dangerous situation in which the dryers could catch on fire or cause other safety problems.
Read more here http://www.ibj.com/settlement-struck-in-hhgregg-dryer-lawsuit/PARAMS/article/24993
Despite the warning labels clearly displayed on the back of dryers Ontario’s appliance stores still offer to install dryers with the wrong, NOT recommended hose! Ok they are not installing the white vinyl hose, but the thin foil they are always using is so wrong criminal in fact! It is not that they cannot see the large warning label as they have to go behind the dryer whilst hooking up the dryer. Be warned your dryer manufacturer may void warranty work if you have the incorrect dryer hose connecting our dryer to the wall!
Many people with the wrong dryer hose do not know where to call to get their vinyl hose of thin foil hose changed over, for anyone in Ontario looking for a reliable professional company why not call Dryer Vent Cleaner?
This is a particularly bad dryer we recently came across, which due to the dryer vent being clogged lead to the whole dryer struggling and also signs of a dryer fire having taken place. This really was one lucky customer, they narrowly avoided becoming a dryer fire statistic. The customer chose to have the dryer cleaned inside the cabinet when they realized how serious the situation was.
As you can see a normal looking clothes dryer … from the outside lets see whats inside
Behind the dryer is the dryer exhaust that the transition hose connects to. Look at how much lint is built up in there.
Lint build up below the lint trap and under the lint trap housing this is tricky to remove but really does need to be removed.
It is easy to see that lint is just going to stick to the existing build up here, this is why it makes sense to carry out dryer vent cleaning on a regular basis. We recommend once a year if there are 4 or more living in the home, single or just a couple then once every 2 years will be enough.
If lint cannot exhaust properly then it will start to build up inside the dryer over time which is not good news! With clean dryer vents the lint exits the dryer preventing build up like this.
The owner of this dryer said that it was taking sometimes 3 cycles to dry a load of clothes. This was not only costing a lot in electricity costs and also putting more strain on the dryer and the clothes too! Below you will see signs of where lint has already burned, the owners were lucky that they called us when they did. Houses in the area of Burlington are between 4 – 15 years old, the house this dryer is in is 12 years old.
The dark brown bits are burnt lint slowly smouldering away.
Burnt lint removed from clothes dryer just look at how much there is! Have your dryer vent cleaned regularly to prevent this level of lint build up.
Here you see a nice clean cabinet, we greased the mail bearing and checked the drive belt and tension rollers, then went on to clean out the dryer vent and change the transition tube from a vinyl flex hose to a semi rigid one the manufacturers recommend.
If you live in Burlington, Ontario and surrounding areas and are having problems with your clothes taking a long time to dry. Is the top of your clothes dryer feeling really hot to touch? Or are you noticing excessive lint on your dry clothes? These are all signs that your dryer vent is clogged with lint and needs cleaning. Contact us today to schedule dryer vent cleaning, the service will pay for itself in time savings, reducing your utility costs and reducing your risk of fire.