I was staying in a company guesthouse about a decade ago. Went to do laundry. Tried to check the filter. Opened up the dryer and... BEHOLD LINT MOUNTAIN. I went back to my room, grabbed a garbage bag, and FILLED IT with lint. I'm not gonna let our historic hotel burn down, nope! The owner saw it all on camera and was both shocked... and pleased. 😊
I’ve seen those ‘Lint Blankets’. Except when I saw them I was doing Furnace & Duct Cleaning. I’d gone to a 50’s home that’d never had a duct cleaning since new (this was in 98), so 40 years. When I cut into the cold air return I was confused to see what at first glance looked like yellow 1” insulation INSIDE the DUCT! As soon as I touched it tho, I realized what I found. The house was a 2500sqft 5 bedroom. Original family of mom, dad, and 2 sons. But in 98 it was mom, youngest son, his wife, their 3 kids, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and way too much furniture! Not an inch of wall/baseboard was exposed. Just furniture crammed together. So the result was blocking all the cold air returns with large furniture, as well as obstructing many of the heat vents. (Btw - the furnace filter had actually sucked in! It was that plugged.) Took a lot of effort to find each hot/cold vent. But eventually I got the entire system flowing wonderfully. Thankfully by then the son was home so I was able to explain to him why you don’t obstruct/block the vents.
My dryer is up against an exterior wall. The hose goes immediately outside, no bends. I clean the lint screen inside the dryer after each load. I also check the vent exterior cover frequently. I will never ever have a dangerous accumulation.
This video showed up in my recommended feed and I have never watched vent cleaning videos specifically, but I do watch other ones. Anywho, fire is my biggest fear.. And came here to say the same as you: how have these houses not burned down? Especially the one that hadn't been done since 1975?!
It had to be just dumb luck. Some of the lint cleaning videos that you see show black on the surface layer of the lint from where it had been hot enough to start smoldering. I guess the dryer turned the heating element or gas off at the right time and it was able to cool down before catching on fire. I had heard someone say years ago that you could use dryer lint to start a fire in an indoor stove. I used to heat my house with a wood stove until it got in bad shape and I just haven’t wanted to deal with getting another wood stove down the steps into my basement. Anyway, someone told me to use dryer lint as a fire starter even if I had newspaper because the lint would burn hotter and longer and was really easy to light. Well I wasn’t so sure about that. So I went up to the laundry room and got a handful of the dryer lint out of the container that we put it in when cleaning the screen out, and used it to start one of my fires. I couldn’t believe how flammable the stuff is. It also burned for quite a long time and it was a really hot fire as well. As long as it has plenty of air, which with the dryer blowing air out it has plenty, it will burn like a blow torch as long as the lint is good and dry. Near the end of a dryer cycle is the hottest the dryer gets and the lint dries out with that hot exhaust blowing. Everyone, make sure you empty your dryer screen every load and check your vent! Easiest way to check is turn the dryer on and go outside to where it vents and see if air is blowing out at a high velocity. If not, clean it or get it cleaned. This is one cause of a house fire that can easily be prevented!
My dad's dryer didn't work properly for years. I kept telling him to get it checked, but instead he buys a new dryer. Turns out the vent was packed full of lint. They ended up putting a new vent in that would work better. I just looked at him and said "told you to get it checked out"
You shouldn’t just show the horror… But instead explain to people. Things like the baffled vent discharge covers: ensure that the baffles move. Or that birds haven’t found their way inside the duct to nest. But also- the dreaded Downey fabric softener! It leaves a slightly sticky blue residue. (Years back I noticed a blue staining at top of dryer opening from loading washed clothes when my wife used Downey.) that junk causes excess buildup in the exhaust duct.
Why are they ducted into the wall? Are they old driers? I’ve never seen one like this-mine have all have a lint trap that you remove and clean after a few sessions..
Me, ignoring the 22 year old lint vent without a pipe under my house after the heat disintegrated it that I don't have the money to fix: Wow, these lint pipes are terrible, what a fire hazard D:
