Fire Safety – Dangers Lurking in your Clothes Dryer

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Dryer Fires account for nearly 16,000 house fires each year. These fires account for over $238 million in property damage and hundreds of injuries. According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), the leading cause of these dryer fires is due to lack of maintenance and cleaning.

NFPA Fact Sheet: https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Fact-sheets/DryerFactSheet.ashx

Here are ten quick pointers and precautions to help prevent a dryer fire from happening in your home:

1. Your dryer vent should be professionally cleaned on a regular basis. The standard recommendation is once a year, and most major dryer manufacturers require this in order to keep their warranty program valid. (Tip: You can schedule your dryer vent cleaning today from your local DUCTZ office by visiting our Request Service page.)
2. If you rent your home, ask your landlord what the dryer vent cleaning schedule is. Most landlords are required by their municipality to have the dryer vent cleaned each year by a professional.
3. Your dryer should not take longer than 50 minutes to dry an average load of clothes. If it is taking longer, you should have your dryer vent cleaned, or the exhaust replaced.
   If the outer surface of your dryer is hot when it’s running, or if your clothes come out of the dryer hot to the touch, your dryer is not venting properly. This overheating could pose a fire threat.
4. Most state and local codes dictate that a dryer vent exhaust should not be more than 25′ long from the dryer to the termination point (or outside of the home).
5. Your dryer vent should be a flex aluminum or rigid metal pipe–not a PVC pipe or other plastic material. If you know or suspect your vent is an improper material, please call your local DUCTZ office to have it replaced with code-compliant flex aluminum piping.
6. Your dryer vent should never vent indoors. Gas dryers expel gases that are extremely dangerous to people and pets when there is incorrect or insufficient ventilation.
7. Your dryer vent should freely open on the exhaust on the outside vent. Most exhaust vents have louvers or door vents that should freely open.
8. Your dryer vent should not have duct tape material on it. If any kind of tape material is necessary, ensure the tape is a foil tape.
9. Check your dryer vents on the outside of your home often, as birds and rodents find dryer vents to be an ideal nesting site. (What’s not to love? It’s a warm and covered place to keep their babies warm!)

If you’re unsure about how to check for any of these in your own home, or if you have concerns about your dryer vent functioning properly, a professional dryer vent cleaning company should be able to answer all of your questions. At DUCTZ, we specialize in cleaning and repairing dryer vents in residential and commercial properties. As an international franchise system, we adhere to the highest industry standards, and we ensure your dryer vent is not only thoroughly cleaned but also that all components are up-to-code and will remain safe in the long-run.

THE DUCTZ DIFFERENCE

• We never use the “too good to be true” coupons.
• We adhere to strict standards set forth by the EPA, NADCA, and ASHRAE.
• We provide a “Picture Perfect Report” on each job, which is a compilation of before and after photos documenting the project so every customer can see and verify our work.

Whether you need us for dryer vent cleaning, air duct cleaning, coil cleaning, or any other HVAC restoration service, we make sure all of our clients benefit from the best quality of work and customer service in the industry. Visit our Residential Dryer Vent Services page to learn more, or contact your local DUCTZ office to schedule your annual dryer vent cleaning.