Clothes Dryer - Safety

Safety

Dryers expose flammable materials to heat. Underwriters Laboratories recommends cleaning the lint filter after every cycle for safety and energy efficiency, provision of adequate ventilation, and cleaning of the duct at regular intervals. UL also recommends that dryers not be used for glass fiber, rubber, foam or plastic items, or any item that has had a flammable substance spilled on it.

In the United States, the U.S. Fire Administration in a 2007 report estimated that clothes dryer fires account for about 15,600 structure fires, 15 deaths, and 400 injuries annually, with 80% (12,700) of the fires in residential buildings. The Fire Administration attributes “Failure to clean” as the leading factor contributing to clothes dryer fires in residential buildings, and observed that new home construction trends place clothes dryers and washing machines in more hazardous locations away from outside walls, such as in bedrooms, second-floor hallways, bathrooms, and kitchens.

To address the problem of clothes dryer fires, in November 2001, the UK-based commercial laundry equipment provider JLA Group launched their S.A.F.E. (an acronym for Sensor Activated Fire Extinguishing) dryer system. S.A.F.E. was developed to stop dryer fires by utilising two sensors which detect the change in temperature when a blaze starts in a dryer drum. These sensors then activate a water vapour mechanism to put out the fire.