3 Hazards That Can Result From Uncleaned Dryer Vents

Your home can be a dangerous place. There are plenty of potential risks that you’re more than likely walking past every single day. Whilst the potential for these accidents is thankfully rarely realised, you should still stay on top of maintenance and safety issues to reduce the risk of any incidents that could cause damage to you, your loved ones or your home.

There’s a larger change that general wear and tear will cause a problem with your often used appliances, a problem you’ll have no idea has been coming until it is too late. Your dryer is one such appliance. Without proper maintenance and regular vent cleaning you could soon be unfortunate enough to experience one of the below problems first hand.

Fire Risk

This is arguably the most well known and potentially most damaging risk for uncleaned dryer vents. A lot of people neglect to clean out their lint trap, let alone consider the necessity for regular maintenance and cleaning of their vent.

Without regular cleaning your dryer vent will begin to fill up with very flammable material. The fact that the vent is blocked will cause your machine to become hot to the touch which, in such close proximity to the aforementioned flammable material, could be the beginning of a catastrophic house fire.

To help prevent a house fire you should be cleaning out your lint trap, preferably after every use and we strongly recommend annual vent maintenance and inspections by a trained professional.

Allergen Risk

If you’re a regular reader of our blog you’ll understand that we take the quality of air in your home very seriously. Proper ventilation is important for decreasing allergens that could exacerbate existing respiratory issues such as asthma, especially in young children.

Your dryer vents play a large part in the overall air quality of your home. In letting the lint and dust build to dangerous levels within your ventilation system you’re running the risk of spreading allergens every time you use your dryer. On top of this, you’re also running the risk of infusing your clothes with allergens. If you’re placing your clothes in an area that is linked to a pipe full of lint and dust, it stands to reason that there is a high risk of said allergens attaching themselves to anything you place in your dryer.

With the risk of spreading allergens around your home as well as turning your clothes into mobile allergy agitators, cleaning your dryer vents should be a high priority for you regardless of whether you suffer from allergies.

Efficiency and Longevity

Whilst not a health and safety issue, this final entry is definitely important for the more financially concerned among us.

We’ve already mentioned that a build up of lint in your dryer vent can cause the machine to considerably heat up when under operation. The reason your dryer will heat up is basically as it is having to work harder to get the job done. One result of this is an increase in power consumption which equates to a higher electricity bill for you.

On top of this, the extra strain that is placed on your machine through neglect of regular maintenance will greatly reduce it’s life span.

It works out far cheaper to pay for an annual service than to continue paying higher electricity bills as well as potentially replacing the whole machine far before its time.

As with all regularly used home appliances your dryer should be subject to close scrutiny and annual maintenance. Neglecting what is, in the grand scheme of things, a small cost could end up costing you your home, your health or a much larger financial spend.

Always clean out our lint tray after every use and be sure to get a trained professional to service or clean your dryer vent once a year.

Image – Ada Be