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/AltruisticApples May 30 '21

First weekend of every month I do deep cleans of:

  • toilets
  • shower cabinet
  • washing machine (mine has a "clean machine cycle")
  • dryer
  • dish washer
  • fridge

I have invested a lot of money in quality appliances and I try my best to keep them running well. + Hygiene is important

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u/redripetomato1134 May 30 '21

I do similarly. Add on cleaning filters and vents on things: hood range, air filter, bathroom vent, etc

1

u/[deleted] May 31 '21

When we moved in there was no filter on the hood range. We could never find one that fit, the thing is ancient. I kept telling my husband we needed to install a newer one but he doesn't like spending money on house upgrades, especially since we only planned on being here a few years.

It had been over a year before I finally just duct taped a filter in place to cover the vent hole. Grease was dripping down onto the stove.

I'm nervous what's actually in that entire duct. I don't even know who I would call to clean it.