Following regular maintenance advice will surely help your clothes dryer run more efficiently and safely. But, on the other hand, ignoring dryer maintenance or skipping regular check-ups may pose a fire hazard, which is something that you should prevent. In fact, failure to clean your dryer may cause a fire accident in your home, according to the Australian Fire Administration.

Here are some maintenance tips for your dryer:

• Ensure proper installation

It is recommended that you let a professional technician install and service your dryer. Always check your manual to ensure that your electrical outlet has the appropriate voltage to run your appliance. If you are using a gas dryer, have it inspected by a licensed technician to ensure the gas lines are correctly connected and working without leaks and issues.

• Always clean the lint filter

Don’t forget to clean the link filter before you dry your load. So, if you are drying a new batch of clothes ang garments such as bath towels, bath mats, or other heavy items, consider drying them for half a cycle. After drying the load, you should pause to clean out the lint filter before continuing to dry the other items. You should also check the dryer’s drum for link accumulation.

Keep in mind that the leading cause of clothes dryer fires is failure to clean the fibre, lint, and dryer of dust. In fact, lint is considered highly combustible, may lead to reduced airflow, and could pose a fire hazard in clothes dryers.

• Inspect the dryer vent
  
  

The dryer vent is sometimes located outside of your house, so you should periodically check it to ensure that there are no issues and air is coming out when you are drying your clothes. If there is no air coming out of the vent, try turning off the dryer first before inspecting the vent for any foreign objects and blockages. A blocked vent is usually caused by a bird’s nest, accumulated lint, or even a small animal trapped inside it.
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Many dryer technicians recommend installing a dryer vent seal to ensure that vent is adequately closed when the dryer is not in use.

• Check the exhaust vent

Another important part to check is the exhaust vent because debris and lint may build up inside it. So, make sure that the duct from the back of your dryer to the exhaust outside isn’t clogged or blocked by any foreign object. If there is a blockage, try removing the duct to clean it out, but we usually recommend that you get in touch with a professional dryer technician before making any changes to your dryer’s exhaust duct.

Overall, these are just simple maintenance tasks that could help you prevent fire accidents in your home, and it will also ensure that your clothes dryer is running smoothly and efficiently.

No matter how careful you are, something unexpected can still make it into your dryer. Some of these things may include crayons, pens, chewing gum, and lipstick. Unfortunately, these items can stain your dryer or transfer to other clothes and ruin them.

Here are tips on how to effectively clean stains inside your dryer.
 
Crayons
If suspected, check the drum of your dryer for stuck-on pieces of crayon, and scrape them off with either an old credit card or plastic spatula. It is important to wipe the drum with a soft cloth sprayed with a small amount of WD-40 since it is an effective solution for removing stains. After removing the crayon stain, unplug the dryer and wash the interior with soapy, warm water. You can finish by wiping the dryer drum with dry cloths.

Ink
To remove ink stains, you should first run the dryer for at least 10 minutes to warm up the metal drum because this will make it easier to remove the stains. Unplug the dryer and dampen a white rag with rubbing alcohol. Use that rag to remove the ink stains from the dryer interior. If the rag you are using has already gathered a lot of ink stains, you need to change to a new one to prevent ink from being redistributed to your dryer.

Dye
If your dryer is covered with splotches of dye, you will need to soak several old towels in a solution composed of at least three gallons of hot water to one cup of household bleach. However, you should be wearing a rubber glove with protective eyewear. You will also need to run the dryer for 30 minutes using an air-fluff setting together with the old towels. This will effectively remove the dye inside the drum walls.

Gum or lollies
Just like crayons, you can scrape off gum and hardened candy with a plastic spatula or old credit card, then you can use a blow-dryer to soften excess lollies and gum. Lastly, remove the excess particles and scrub the stained area with a rag dampened with bleach or an all-purpose cleaner.
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Lipstick
To remove lipstick on your dryer, it is recommended that you use a soft, dry cloth. Unplug the dryer first and let it cool down for a few minutes, then wipe the remaining lipstick stain with a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol. You can also plug the dryer back, throw some old towels and run it for a few cycles to remove any remaining lipstick stains on the drum walls.

If your dryer won't come clean no matter what you try, contact us to help with your dryer maintenance needs in Brisbane.