18 replies to this topic

[MSgt]

I woke up at about 2AM smelling smoke. I thought it was fireworks at first until I noticed how late (early?) it was. I opened the patio door and the smell was very strong. I checked out the house to make sure all was ok and then walked outside and saw 6 fire engines on Orange Blossom cir. My neighbor woke up too and we walked down the street to see what was going on. The owners told us they think the dryer vent caught fire. He said the smoke alarm went off and they got out. According to the article on KCRA they left the dryer running and went to bed. YIKES - we do that all the time!

It looked like firefighters had to put a hole in the roof to get to the attic. How horrible for them.
Here is a link to a story about it. We were there when the guy took the pictures.
KCRA FOLSOM FIRE

If the owners we were talking to last night are reading this - we are so sorry you are going through this. We are so glad no one was hurt.

Ok so now what do we have to do to check our dryer vents? All the houses are about the same age - this could happen to any of us. I guess the dryer vents in Natoma Station go up the wall and exit high? I am going to check ours today. I don't even know where it comes out at. We have a single level home - the dryer shares the entry way wall (next to the front door).

[MikeinFolsom]

Most of the lint catches at the first 90 right angle going up the wall. Take the vent off the dryer, vacuum out everything. Go outside and stick the vacuum in the vent and reach as far as you can. Between both of those, you should be fine.

[cw68]

Cleaning your dryer vent is a very good idea. We sucked ours out as much as we could when we moved in last year. I might go try and do it again, and SOON!

[iJason]

We live right next to the house that caught. Our windows were open so the smoke smell was very strong in our house and we all got out safely. It was odd seeing 6 or 7 fire engines outside and not hearing them. Do they not use the sirens at a certain time in the morning? Most of our neighbors weren't even awakened by the smoke. Good thing nobody was injured.

[MikeinFolsom]

They'll use em to get through certain intersections if there is traffic, but late at night, nope, they'll let you sleep if they don't need them.

[folsom500]

Check Google and there are a lot of sites that have kits to use with your home drill - here is one of them with a little more info - others have kits from $25-39 -

suggest every 2 years--- ( havent done ours since we moved in 5 years ago )

http://www.laundry-a...nt_cleaning.htm


guess this happens quite often - as 15,000 a year are reported and 10 deaths average are due to this ...

Guess we all need to clean ours out --

F500

[tessieca]

We slept through it. Where on OBC? I don't think our dryer vents anywhere near the attic access. It's weird that the upper floor is in flames.

[MSgt]

We slept through it. Where on OBC? I don't think our dryer vents anywhere near the attic access. It's weird that the upper floor is in flames.

About 4 houses away (on the right) from the corner of Boxcar and OBC (turning left from Boxcar onto OBC).

[iJason]

It was right across the street from the bunny park.

You can get dryer vent brushes at a lot of places. I'm pretty sure Home Depot has some.

[Zanzan]

Companies like COIT will use their powerful machines to suck all the lint from the vent. It costs about a hundred bucks and should be done once a year at a minimum. The week we moved into our home this spring in WS, we had them come out. It looked like the previous owners NEVER did it in the 8 years they owned the house.

[nomoser]

We live in NS, but not on Orange Blossom, and our dryer vent is right at the bottom of the house, just through the wall from the laundry room on the bottom floor. In the winter, when I go outside to take out garbage or something I see steam coming out of the dryer vent near the cement there. I didn't realize some dryer vents ran all the way to the roof. Are the laundry rooms in those homes on the upper floor, or are these single-story homes?

[ER2002]

I didn't realize some dryer vents ran all the way to the roof. Are the laundry rooms in those homes on the upper floor, or are these single-story homes?

Both. Homes in my neighborhood in Empire Ranch have dryer vents installed on the roof on single and 2-story homes. Through research and talking with the technicians, a lot of the older homes locally and nationwide have the dryer vents on an exterior wall down lower to the ground. Personally, I clean out the vent behind my dryer a couple times a year as well. I also swab the passage way behind the removeable lint trap on my machine (Maytag Neptune) leading into the interior of the dryer trap monthly and of course clean the lint trap after every cycle. Plus, I have Ryan Bros Chimney Sweep comes out annually just to clean out the dryer vent from the roof. It definitely improves the dryers drying time in half. I usually watch them as they clean out the vent on the roof. I want to see the volume of lint they remove and they will test your dryers output before and after indicating how clogged it might be.

[iJason]

The laundry room is on the downstairs level, but i guess it crept up to the second level.

[tessieca]

It was right across the street from the bunny park.

That's where the neighbors were showing a movie on someone's garage door the other night. That was cute.

I didn't realize some dryer vents ran all the way to the roof. Are the laundry rooms in those homes on the upper floor, or are these single-story homes?

Not in these houses. They're Richmond American, and all laundry rooms are on the bottom floors. I, too, was unaware that a vent would go up through the attic. Ours vents right out the wall next to the room.

[Sandman]

I can't see how hot air expelled from the drier is anywhere near hot enought to ignite lint stuck in the vent. While it may affect your driers ability to dry I can't see it starting a fire....