Let’s think about safety around our homes

[elkimmeg]

First question. When was the last time you cleaned you clothes dryer and vent?

Does anyone know how many dryer fires occur a year in USA? On an average 15 people are killed and 400 are injured Many occur while leaving the dryer unattended
(broken link removed)

Ok which is the most dangerous room in your home?
The second most

12% of home fires result in leaving a burning candle unattended

Any surprise with this in the northern states 1out of 4 fires that occur in Dec., Jan., and Feb., are related to chimneys, wood stoves, and auxiliary heaters the leading cause of fires in these months

 

[GVA]

I hate when you point out my flaws Elk.
I drive my wife nuts with the candles burning and me blowing them out etc. She says that I'm overly cautious.
But the dryer since it's NG and hardpiped it's a PITA to pull it out from the wall to clean it out, But since you mentioned it I'll take care of that next weekend, I'm off to A TROPICAL ISLAND tonite.....
And I only want to think happy thoughts till then.....

 

[keyman512us]

While we are on this subject the following pictures illustrate why "Ladders around powerlines" deserve special attention. Anyone painting, cleaning the chimeny, washing windows, or setting up a ladder against the side of the house pay close attention....especially if the wires coming into your home are on the "old side".
I found this condition at a customers house when they contracted me to "update the service to 200 amps.." I just stopped dead in my tracks and "stared in amazement" that it had never "blown up". Fellow electricians and linesman' know what they are looking at here. Home inspectors...and painters should educate themselves...as should anyone putting a ladder up next to something like this. Sad part is the young couple that just bought this house...had a home inspection done...and there was no mention of this condition...which leads me to my next sugestion:
If you are thinking of buying a home and want a REAL INSPECTION DONE...spend the extra money and have three professional opinions on your side: One from a reputable CARPENTER/GC, One from a reputable PLUMBER, One from a reputable ELECTRICIAN...I regualary do home inspections regarding electrical for a small fee...
You might save more than just money...

 

[Roospike]

Hell of a good thread to post ............

Just two days ago i was thinking about the dryer and thought it might be a good idea to take a look at it , pulled the back pipe off and cleaned it out ( what little there was ) and then took off the front bottom cover to check things out for the year , cleaned out all the lint in the bottom that come from who knows where and then i took the front cover off to the lint trap.....60% build up before the fan! We do a lot of cloths with a family of 5 and it does get checked often but damn , that was a lot of air blockage and if a chunk of that came off and plugged something up its might not of been good. I normally clean out the bottom / inside of the dryer a few times a year.

 

[keyman512us]

Ohh..And while we are at it, if you do decide to upgrade your service...do a quick visual inspection of the electricians work before you write the check. Best to ask the local inspector if a permit has been filed...and if it has been inspected and approved...so you don't end up paying for a plumber to do an electricians job...
This little "gem" was across the street from a service call I went on...I keep a camera in the truck for these "noteworthy ocassions":

 

[keyman512us]

Just two days ago i was thinking about the dryer and thought it might be a good idea to take a look at it , pulled the back pipe off and cleaned it out ( what little there was ) and then took off the front bottom cover to check things out for the year , cleaned out all the lint in the bottom that come from who knows where and then i took the front cover off to the lint trap.....60% build up before the fan! We do a lot of cloths with a family of 5 and it does get checked often but damn , that was a lot of air blockage and if a chunk of that came off and plugged something up its might not of been good. I normally clean out the bottom / inside of the dryer a few times a year.

Feel confident you throughly cleaned it? Did you take any covers off that required a screw driver? If you didn't or don't feel confident...Have a small appliance repair shop that comes to your home "go over it". Costs short money and is good for "piece of mind" (good friend of mine had a fire in his two year old dryer just the other week oddly enough)...

 

[Roospike]

Just two days ago i was thinking about the dryer and thought it might be a good idea to take a look at it , pulled the back pipe off and cleaned it out ( what little there was ) and then took off the front bottom cover to check things out for the year , cleaned out all the lint in the bottom that come from who knows where and then i took the front cover off to the lint trap.....60% build up before the fan! We do a lot of cloths with a family of 5 and it does get checked often but damn , that was a lot of air blockage and if a chunk of that came off and plugged something up its might not of been good. I normally clean out the bottom / inside of the dryer a few times a year.

Feel confident you throughly cleaned it? Did you take any covers off that required a screw driver? If you didn't or don't feel confident...Have a small appliance repair shop that comes to your home "go over it". Costs short money and is good for "piece of mind" (good friend of mine had a fire in his two year old dryer just the other week oddly enough)...

Yeah , I took the front panel off and then took the lint trap assembly off before the blower / fan , normally this is where it collects on my model of dryer. once a year i take the pipe off from the inside from the blower / fan by the heater and clean this pipe out tho normally not that bad at all there.

Its also suggested to use only smooth solid vent pipe from the dryer to the exhaust hole ( no flex pipe.

unplug ones dryer BEFORE and cleaning is done.

keyman512us , hell of a lot of good pictures your posting. scary stuff in this thread i might add.

 

[BrotherBart]

While we are on this subject the following pictures illustrate why "Ladders around powerlines" deserve special attention. Anyone painting, cleaning the chimeny, washing windows, or setting up a ladder against the side of the house pay close attention....especially if the wires coming into your home are on the "old side".
I found this condition at a customers house when they contracted me to "update the service to 200 amps.." I just stopped dead in my tracks and "stared in amazement" that it had never "blown up". Fellow electricians and linesman' know what they are looking at here. Home inspectors...and painters should educate themselves...as should anyone putting a ladder up next to something like this. Sad part is the young couple that just bought this house...had a home inspection done...and there was no mention of this condition...which leads me to my next sugestion:
If you are thinking of buying a home and want a REAL INSPECTION DONE...spend the extra money and have three professional opinions on your side: One from a reputable CARPENTER/GC, One from a reputable PLUMBER, One from a reputable ELECTRICIAN...I regualary do home inspections regarding electrical for a small fee...
You might save more than just money...

OK. No electrician here. What am I looking at and what is wrong with it?

 

[jtp10181]

I think that those three bare wires going in are HOT, NEUTRAL, GROUND. Could be very bad if they touched each other.

Anyway... on the topic of home inspections. I went on a service call one day because their fireplace was not working. As soon as I walked in I got the slightest hint of a NG smell. I causally walked back out and calibrated my sniffer. It went off, slowly increasing, as soon as I walked in the door. No leaks on the fireplace that I could find. Went to the basement and started sniffing the lines down there. Right as the line went into the furnace there was a tag from a home inspection company zip tied to the gas line, stating they inspected it for leaks. Guess where the leak was? About 2 inches from their tag. While I went to the shop for a part to fix their fireplace, the local utility came out. He said the threads were cut bad and he had to replace that section of pipe to fix it. No amount of tightening would stop the leak. The house was about 9 years old, these were new homeowners. Good thing their fireplace broke, before the whole house blew up.

 

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What do you think happened to the insulation?

 

[BrotherBart]

I think that those three bare wires going in are HOT, NEUTRAL, GROUND. Could be very bad if they touched each other.

Anyway... on the topic of home inspections. I went on a service call one day because their fireplace was not working. As soon as I walked in I got the slightest hint of a NG smell. I causally walked back out and calibrated my sniffer. It went off, slowly increasing, as soon as I walked in the door. No leaks on the fireplace that I could find. Went to the basement and started sniffing the lines down there. Right as the line went into the furnace there was a tag from a home inspection company zip tied to the gas line, stating they inspected it for leaks. Guess where the leak was? About 2 inches from their tag. While I went to the shop for a part to fix their fireplace, the local utility came out. He said the threads were cut bad and he had to replace that section of pipe to fix it. No amount of tightening would stop the leak. The house was about 9 years old, these were new homeowners. Good thing their fireplace broke, before the whole house blew up.

Just one of the stories why I won't have gas in my house. I came from Texas and every year there was at least one story on the news where a house completely exploded. Thankfully most of the time when nobody was home, but still...

Wood, oil, pellets, newspapers I don't care what I heat with. I could never trust gas.

My mother was born with one of those noses that usually only belongs to wine experts (a real pain when I started drinking, she could almost tell you the proof of the booze when you came home). I can't count how many times we walked into people's houses when I was growing up and she would say "You have a gas leak." and the residents would say "No.". None of the rest of us could smell it either.

Every single time a leak was found.

 

[elkimmeg]

Keyman great pictures the service company could not have made those connections?

BB notice the bare wires from the overhead drop think in terns of wind rain and arking

the upper bracket is pulling off the building in another one

Ok while at dryers to answer my own question the average amount of dryer fires per year is 15,600
More suprising electric dryers had more fires.

Keyman is right after un polugging your dryer you should take off the back cover The amount of lint that deposits in there is amazing

Pluu out as much as you can then VAck the rest out witha wand atachmnet Lint around the motor is not good

#!1 cause of fires vent blockage and lint accumulation

#2 reason improper venting here is a word about venting.

1988 that plastic coil type venting was outlawred for dryer vent applications the tincoil plastic liner vent soon followed being banned
The iner plastic under the tin foil is highly combustiable. All gas dryers have to be smooth ridgid metal venting no exception
electric dryers also should be hard piped either glazanized or alumium the flexible alumium vent can be used up to 6' total length and can not be concealed
I should bring my camera around I can not tell you how many times I have found that white plastic connected the entire 8" for a 2" connection
then have the dryer pushed in crushing it. Just like your stove installation manual please read your dryer manual note the section on make up air Probably too late now in existing homes but door leave that 1/2 bat door open when the dryer is in opperations.. Back in the say when BB and I were childern we were asked to en mpty the dryer well we knew when to empty it when the bell sounded after 30 minutes or so We would reach in to check to see if the clothes were dry if not we added another 10 minutes and anothe then another Hey wait a minute it used to only take 30 minutes something is wrong We then had instant feedback the dryer and vent needed cleaning. ITS different today we have automatic moisture sensors throw a load in set and forget. runn some rrrans and 3 hours later oj=oh yeah there is a load in the dryer. We don't know it it took 30 minutes of 3 hours electrical motors and heating element get really hot when they run peak 6 time longer tha usual real dangerous in the pressence of lint. I think most members here have a mind set to conserve energy running a dryer 6 times longer waste
a lot of energy

While we have an electrician on board welcome KEY these power strips are abused the cheap ones can not satisfy the load or demand made of them.
Dont buy a cheapy please check that it has 14 gage wire cord and do not have false security that they are protected the cheap ones are not and offer no additional protection


Ok the most dangerous room in your home you kitchen 29% followed by your bedroom 13% next they name chimney as a room 8% lanndry room 4% and I did not mention the furnace
room

how many have fire extinguishers? one should be near a kitchen perhaps one near the master bedroom and have a escape plan in place. Every second counts thats why I take exception
to posters that start cutting holes in floors and cceilings they are natural containment barriers. I have sat in seminars examining characteristics of fire it i really hits home when each sequence has a time clock. with instruments measuring heat smoke and volitles in the smoke. I can not t stress how important draft stopping and containment is.

Did I mention candles? left going unattended? checking your smoke detectors changing batteries when you change daylight saving time clocks Carbon monoxide detectors?

Smoke detectors have an average life expectancy of 10 years before they should be replaced.

 

[jtp10181]

One of the things on my todo list is to replace our very long horizontal flexible dryer duct. It would be almost impossible to hard pipe it all the way but I have seen some flexible ducts that are a lot nicer than what came with the house. I want to add a booster fan to it also since its probably 25 ft horizontal. I should prob take the whole duct down this year sometime and get all the crap out of it. Its an electric dryer BTW.

 

[begreen]

One option is to not run the electric dryer on high heat. We always run ours on low heat. It gets things dry, but without the risk of a burnout. Low heat work pretty well in conjunction with a high efficiency washer that spins the clothes quite dry.

 

[BrotherBart]

Vertully every one of those tin foil flex ducts has been shown as the reason for a dryer vent fire. I was so glad I did a look on the Net and installed hard pipe.

 

[BrotherBart]

One of the things on my todo list is to replace our very long horizontal flexible dryer duct. It would be almost impossible to hard pipe it all the way but I have seen some flexible ducts that are a lot nicer than what came with the house. I want to add a booster fan to it also since its probably 25 ft horizontal. I should prob take the whole duct down this year sometime and get all the crap out of it. Its an electric dryer BTW.

Just be sure you use the flex aluminum pipe and not that tin-foil flex stuff. Looks just like chimney liner pipe.

 

[colsmith]

ELK, I guess that the most dangerous room is the bathroom, second is the kitchen. Or maybe the other way around, but lots of drowning, shock, burn, slipping, and other potential hazards there. Is that what you would say are the top two danger rooms?

As for dryers, we are totally safe, we don't use our dryer for drying! Haven't dried clothes in a machine in my own house since 1991. We hang everything up. We always have a dryer, but use it for storage. At our previous home it was in the partially sunken into the ground level of our tri-level house, so we stored wine and soda in it. Now I keep my health club bag and swim suit in it and extra clothes hangers and such. To explain a little, in our first home we had an electric dryer, it matched the washer. We moved them to our second house. Second house was set up only for a gas dryer. We already were hanging up most of our clothes to dry, so we just switched to hanging them all up, no big deal. Hubby could have rewired it, but we didn't feel a need.

Then we sold our house, the people put in the contract that they wanted the washer and dryer. Their home inspector pointed out that the dryer wasn't actually connected, I heard him say it, but they brought lots of friends along to look-see, and weren't paying attention. So we left the dryer which of course they couldn't turn on (they were a little miffed, but not our fault), and they bought a gas dryer. Meanwhile, we bought a washing machine for $50 at a rummage sale for our current house. My brother the realtor gave us a gas dryer that was left in a property he was trying to sell. This house was set up for an electric dryer, didn't use to have NG in our neighborhood. So we always HAVE a dryer, just not that we can run. Finally last year we got a gas stove (free from a friend) and had the plumber run a pipe to the dryer as well. However, we haven't used it yet and have little interest in doing so. Hanging up clothes is a lot easier than splitting wood, ya know? And it adds humidity to the air. I don't use a hair dryer either, I feel so safe. ;-)

 

[jtp10181]

One of the things on my todo list is to replace our very long horizontal flexible dryer duct. It would be almost impossible to hard pipe it all the way but I have seen some flexible ducts that are a lot nicer than what came with the house. I want to add a booster fan to it also since its probably 25 ft horizontal. I should prob take the whole duct down this year sometime and get all the crap out of it. Its an electric dryer BTW.

Just be sure you use the flex aluminum pipe and not that tin-foil flex stuff. Looks just like chimney liner pipe.

What we have right now I think is the cheap "tin foil" style flex.