Living un-tidy is your business but when it comes to home appliance care, you're putting yourself and your loved ones at risk for a fatal accident if you don't take care of a few basics.
1. Lint-filled dryer venting.
Lint buildup + heat = fire. Every year, clothes dryers cause thousands of major residential fires in the U.S. and Canada. Most problems related to dryers are caused by lint build up or blockage within the venting system. It leads to a dangerous buildup of heat as well as an instant fire that spreads fast.
Yes, it really is that important to remove lint from the lint filter (a.k.a. lint trap) after every load.
And, once per year, you must clean out the entire venting system from inside of the dryer to the outside vent cap. Use our bestselling 20-foot cleaning brush to simply remove lint buildup from within the whole tube. If you don't feel like tackling the job, hire a professional ventilation cleaners to do it for you.
2. A dirty oven.
If you do not bother cleaning up spills and splatters at the end of your oven's cavity: watch out.
RepairClinic.com's repair technicians gave me stern looks when I mentioned the piece of pepperoni that may or may not have been a tenant within my oven for a few weeks. Eventually, the pepperoni will smoke after which catch on fire, they told me. I have a spotless oven for life.
Not sure how to clean your oven? Check out our post Range Cleaning 101 by Ryan Huntley.
3. A suffocated space heater.
Due for their compact size, space heaters are susceptible to tipping over, which can insert them in contact with highly flammable textiles. Clothing, blankets, pet beds and toys should have proper storage locations – at least a yard (approximately one meter) from the unit.
4. A room that's home to appliances and flammable chemicals.
You may have never thought about it but you likely own many chemicals – by means of leftover paint, varnishes and other flammable chemicals used for painting, ice-melting salt and harsh cleaning solutions like bleach and ammonia. Many people make the mistake of storing rarely-used boxes of chemicals in a low-traffic area of a utility room or perhaps a basement – often in a low-traffic area such as right beside a furnace or a water heater. This is a fire waiting to happen.
5. Disconnected or non-existent smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Never, ever live without properly-working smoke and deadly carbon monoxide detectors. Regularly test them. Change the batteries when Daylight Savings changes. Don’t disconnect a smoke detector when there’s a smoky cooking mishap. Look after it right away. If you don’t yet have a carbon monoxide detector, buy one. Even better, buy two.
Anything you'd increase the list? Please let us know below.
Share this informative article with your untidy family members and friends. Or, if you’re a clear freak, share this with teasing friends to prove that the obsessive cleaning tendencies enables you to actually, likely, a hero.
