Clothes Dryer Fire Damage

8/13/2018 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Palm Desert has another cleaning option for you for your dryer vent. We will always be happy to come out and give you a free estimate to determine if your dryer vents to the outside of the home or to the roof top. 

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are an estimated annual 15,500 fires, 10 deaths and 10 injuries due to clothes dryer fires.  

It is something consumers may not think about as we use our machines to help our households function. 

Only you can prevent clothes dryer fires.  Proper Installation & Choice of Building Materials to include:

1. Make sure the dryer duct is made of solid metallic material. Both vinyl and foil are combustible and spiral-wound surfaces tend to catch lint more readily.
2. The dryer duct should vent to the exterior and in no case should it vent to the attic or crawlspace. Avoid the use of inside heat recovery divert-er valves or termination boxes, which do not comply with current standards.
3. Avoid kinking or crushing the dryer duct to make up for installation in tight quarters -this further restricts airflow. If you really want to save the extra space, the Dryer box is a new invention that allows the dryer to be safely installed against the wall.
4. Minimize the length of the exhaust duct (maximum recommended lengths depend on a number of factors, such as number of bends, and vary by model-check with your manufacturer for their specifications). If this is not possible, you can install a dryer duct booster.
5. If at all possible, use 4-inch diameter vent pipe and exterior exhaust hoods that have openings of sixteen square inches or more, which offer the least resistance to air flow.
6. Don’t use screws to put your vent pipe together – the screw shafts inside the piping collect lint and cause additional friction.