I went to do my laundry this morning and found my neighbors hadn’t cleaned the lint trap for quite awhile (it had a 2 inch thick layer of lint on it), however when I went to pull it off it fell back into the lint trap.
Should I be worried about this? I’ve heard that lint can be a fire hazard.
8 Answers
If you didn’t run the dryer yet, do as other say and unhook it at the wall and run it on cool to blow the wad of lint out the back of the dryer. If it has been run and the wad is in the pipes odds are very good that it made it to the louvers where the pipe exits the house and you can pull the louvers off and get it out.
Realistically, it is extremely unlikely that a wad of lint in the exhaust pipe will ever get even close to the ignition temp of the lint. The fire hazard is very low. But, if it obstructs the airflow enough you will find that it takes far longer and lots more electricity to get your clothes dry and you will want to find a way to clear the pipe.
That wad of lint can block the vent and cause a build-up of heat. And, since it’s fine, dried out fibers, it can easily catch fire. You might try using a vacuum attachment that looks like about a 1/2 inch thick, 1-1/2 inch wide, and about foot long rectangular tube to suck the lint back out.
Or, you can pull out the dryer, remove the vent duct from the back, and run the dryer on low or no heat to blow the lint ball out the back before it goes up the dryer vent duct in the wall.
If it already went up the dryer vent duct, you can try a vacuum hose with no attachment on it to suck it back out of the duct. Otherwise, you’ll have to call an HVAC company that does furnace and AC vent cleaning to clear out your vent duct.
Dryer Trap
Some will blow through the vent pipes and out the exhaust
Some will get caught in the pipes and just sit there, blocking the airways, heat up, and be a fire hazard.
Best way to fix is pull dryer from wall, remove vent pipe, and clean.
Option is to buy vacuum attachments (as seen on TV!) and try to suck it out.
It absolutely is a fire hazard. You can buy gadgets made just for the purpose of cleaning that out, or you may be able to make something, but I would definitely get it out if I were you.
I drop a chop stix down the lint trap by accident. how do I get it out?
Do not stick anywires in there you could get in contact with 240 volts of elec. I used to take the back off and vacum out the whole thing i felt safer that way. Un plug it 1st.
wow! it can make dryer not work as efficiently and yes if enough collected may cause a fire! you can get brushes with long wire handles sold for cleaning under the drum various places to get it out