Could Your Dryer Cause a Fire?

2/11/2021 (Permalink)

This photo of a clothes dryer on fire went viral after a Facebook user posted it in 2018.

Did you know that your dryer could cause a fire? There’s a few reasons why that could happen, but the most common is lint that builds up in the lint trap and dryer vent. If that lint trap or vent isn’t cleaned often, the lint blocks the airflow and dries up, which can quickly result in a fire.

You might be thinking that this is rare. 

It’s not. According to the National Fire Protection Association, washers and dryers cause 15,970 fires each year, with dryers being 92% of that amount. 

What can you do to prevent your dryer from causing a fire in your house? 

First, remove the dryer lint from the lint trap each and every time you use the dryer. This will work to prevent the lint from building up and overflowing into the vent itself. 

As for that vent, that also needs to be cleaned out and investigated every few months. If you don’t have a covering over the vent flap outside of your house, you should look into one. They’re available on Amazon and easy to install. The ones that have a removable plastic webbed covering over them help in keeping birds from creating a nest in your vent when the flap opens, which could easily cause a fire with the accumulation of twigs and leaves.

Also, make sure that you have plugged your dryer into the proper voltage, or that the person who installed it did, to eliminate the risk of faulty wiring causing fire damage. 

If your dryer has caused smoke and soot from fire damage, contact us here at SERVPRO of Haverhill / Newburyport for help with your fire damage restoration.