Hey~
How are you?
Today I want to talk about dryer safety.
Special Features
Clothes dryers have come a long way. Today they have a lot of features. The drum rotates this way then it reverses. They may continue to move the drum every once in a while in case you forget. They sense dampness, have steam cycles, and wrinkle guard settings and more. Me I am not that particular about my clothes. As long as they come out clean and dry, that is all I care about. But if you care about these things, your first move is to read the manual. Otherwise, you may not get the most out of your new dryer or old dryer if you have yet to read the manual.
Clothes tags
So, I used to work in the dry cleaning industry. I know how important following the labels can be. The best way to wash and dry the garment is listed on the label. It will tell you at what setting your dryer should be set. How warm could be very important. Is it delicate? The right setting can make a big difference. It can keep your clothes from shrinking and wrinkling.
Shove it
I know what it is to use the laundry mat down the road. You try to get the most out of each load. Am I right? But if you do your laundry at a laundry mat or at home, don’t just shove everything and anything together. If you care about your clothes, you want to wash and dry like items together. If you have too many things in a dryer, it is harder to get them dry. A dryer should not be more than half full. And you may not want to dry delicate things with not so delicate things otherwise you may do damage to the delicate things. Some clothes need to be dried at one temperature and some at another. Shoving them all together could ruin some things.
Pockets, zippers, drawstrings
OK, you should have done this before you washed the clothes. But check the pockets. That is one of the top rules we had in the dry cleaning industry. After reading the label to be sure the garment could be dry cleaned, we checked the pockets. You don’t want to leave anything in the pockets. Although people don’t use pen and paper much anymore, you don’t want it being washed, And if you find money, it’s yours. Think it as a tip. You did just have to search through someone’s pockets after all. During cold and flu season, you may find some snot rags. Ugh! I know right, but it happens. If you have children, who knows what you may find. Crayons, lip gloss, erasers, glue, who knows what you will find, but you don’t want it going through the system. One more thing is to zip up zippers to keep the teeth from snagging and tie drawstrings together to keep from getting knotted or lost or drawn into the garment and you have to fish them out.
Lint trap, brush and vent
OK, so you should know the dangers of not removing the lint, right? I clean my lint trap after every use. I have two dogs. I almost need to do this in the middle of drying a load. In other words, I have a lot of dog fur in my lint trap. But in addition to cleaning the lint trap you really should invest in a lint brush. How does a lint brush work? Well, a lint brush is a long, thin, and flexible brush. You remove the lint trap, and use the lint brush to remove any lint that got past the trap. And finally the lint vent. If this gets clogged up, your airflow will be blocked and the dryer will not be working at top efficiency. This can be cleaned by you with a vacuum or you may want to hire a professional. It should be done every 6-12 months depending on your laundry and how many loads you do. The more you use your dryer, the more often it should be done.
Dryer sheets
Dryer sheets can make your clothes nice. But they also create a chemical coating on your lint screen and on the moisture sensors in the drum. The moisture sensors are the two metal bar strips in the drum. Just use a little soap and a towel to wipe them off from time to time. And for that lint screen, wash it with some mild dish soap. Make sure to get it dried before returning it to the dryer.
Dust bunnies
One final thing for dryer maintenance and safety. You don’t want lint or dust to get into the dryer. Any lint or dust around the dryer can get in as the dryer pulls in the surrounding air. So, make sure you clean around the dryer from time to time to keep it clean.
Did you learn anything?
So, most of this stuff is rather basic. You may not have learned anything new. But sometimes we don’t think about these things, and it is good to be reminded from time to time.
I would love to hear from you. If you appreciated this, let me know. Thanks. www.facebook.com/lisaylifecoach
Yeah!
Lisa Y coaching