Friday, May 13, 2011

132- Dryer Fire (part 2)


Yes that's what the repairman called it. Seems that the previous owner had a cage over the dryer vent... to keep out animals or something. Well unbeknownst to us it blocked the little flapper closed to our dryer vent thus keeping the lint/moisture/hot air bottled up inside the vent tube.

No I never saw any flames. I guess we were really lucky for that.

Note to self: Check the flapper periodically and have Sears do the PM every year on the dryer. Also get the dryer vent cleaned out every 2-3 years (yes- they are comnig out Monday to clean it out).

So the inside of the dryer body accumulated lint. Last Monday it was ... poof. Bad smell and smoke alarm going off. When they pulled it apart the inside was scorched and the lint charred. Luckily I was home at the time. The thermostat was designed to shut down and turn itself off and thank God it did or I might be blogging about a fire.
The repairman ordered the parts- his name is Aaron and he's a real pro- and thank God (that's good luck #2) we were covered with a maintenance agreement from Sears. What they would be charging was over $1700... more than we paid for the darn thing.

So although we are waiting for parts and then the repair visit to rebuilt/repair the dryer, at least there was no permanent damage.


2 comments:

Janie B said...

Sounds like you got lucky. Could have been a lot worse. Hope the inconvenience and cost isn't too bad.

powayslugger said...

got really lucky. I googled dryer lint fires... it said many houses have burned down. Glad I didn't just turn it on and leave the house!!!

The maintenance agreement covers the cost of repairs- for that i am very lucky. I always thought this was a dumb policy to buy from Sears... but right now it looks like a smart idea.

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