r/preppers • u/Kitso_258 • May 30 '21
Advice and Tips Clean out your dryer vents
If your living situation allows you to have your own dedicated washer/dryer within your home-space, clean out your dryer vent. Unscrew the lint trap holder and vaccuum out the stuff stuck to the sides. You can get a lint duct brush and mostly clean the ducts yourself, or if it's bad/out of reach, hire a professional. This is especially important if you've got pets - my dryer was FULL of pet hair.
Why is this important? Several reasons:
1, new appliances are in short supply right now. Take care of the one you've got.
2, new appliances cost money, see above.
3, it'll increase the efficiency of your dryer and use less electricity.
But the most important reason is that this is a HUGE fire risk. Lint = tinder, and all it takes is one spark in the wrong place to cause the lint to combust. And by spark, as everyone else has pointed out, it could just be the dryer heating element doing it's thing.
Little things like this... make our lives just a little bit better and safer.
Edit: Didn't expect this to blow up. If you wish to save the lint for future fire starter, then save away. My household produces SO MUCH of the crap that I don't ever worry about saving it for the long term...
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u/EdgedBlade May 30 '21
There is another important item to be aware of on top of cleaning out the dryer vent:
Using ductwork instead of “hose” & having as few bends as possible. Each 90 degree turn in your hose is the equivalent of adding 30ft of distance your dryer has to work to push the exhaust air out. It also is how/where lint is most likely to accumulate - leading to fire hazards.
One of the most basic home owner preps one can do.