Clothes Dryer Warning

I got this form a MS newsgroup and thought it’d be interesting to share:

I had a wonderful morning – the heating unit went out on my dryer! Why does everything seem to fall apart this time of year!??? The guy that fixes things went in to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. We always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes. He told us that he wanted to show us something. He took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. Now, the lint filter is made of a mesh material – I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like.

WELL…..the hot water just sat on top of the mesh!!! It didn’t go through it at all!!! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over the mesh, that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time & to keep your electric bill lower is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that???!!!! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I’d share!

Note: I tested my dryer screen by running water on it. The water ran thru a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn’t any puddle of water at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Sounds interesting… I for one use fabric softener sheet for every load of clothes I dump into the dryer and this would be helpful to take care of my new dryer.