Is your dryer ducting into your crawlspace and creating a fire hazard?
Does your dryer empty all your used lint and hot air into your crawlspace? If so, you could have a major fire hazard on your hands. For many households, the clothes dryer is an indispensable convenience and necessity. However, damaging fires can occur if clothes dryers are not properly installed and maintained.
A clothes dryer works by forcing hot air through a turning drum. Wet clothes placed in the drum are then dried by moving hot air. It is possible for a full load of wet clothes to contain as much as one and a half gallons of water. Lint, consisting mostly of small fibers from the clothes and debris in or on the clothes, is created from the clothes as the clothes tumble in the drum. While much of the lint is trapped by the dryer’s filter, lint is also carried through the vent system along with moist air. Lint is a highly combustible material that can accumulate both in the dryer and in the dryer vent. Accumulated lint leads to reduced airflow and can pose a potential fire hazard. According to FEMA 77.1% of all fires occurring in residential one or two family dwellings can be attributed to clothes dryers and the lint the produce.* The dust, fiber and lint produced by most dyers is highly combustible and is usually the first thing to ignite in a fire situation. Because of this extreme hazard, building codes specify that all clothes dryers be exhausted directly to the outdoors. Venting a dryer into attics, soffits, ridge vents or crawl spaces is expressly prohibited. Serious hazards can occur when dryer vents do not exhaust directly to the outside.
Protect your family and your home for this very serious threat and others such as mold, poor air quality and unwanted pests by having your crawl space properly sealed.
This is unacceptable!
All it takes is one spark to ignite this highly flammable material.
*Source: FEMA Topical Fire Report Series Volume 13, Issue 7/August 2012 - Clothes Dryer Fires in Residential Buildings (2008-2010)
