Looking Out for Your Laundry Room

9/8/2020 (Permalink)

There are a number of different things that can cause a fire to start in your laundry room.

In one of our recent blog posts, we went over some of the ways to protect your home from fires. We briefly mentioned the importance of taking care of the appliances of the laundry room. This blog post will further discuss the ways you can protect yourself from fires that start in the laundry room. This is especially important, as 15,000 fires per year are started in the laundry. That is an average of 42 laundry room fires per day! Here are some tips that can help you prevent laundry room fires in your household!

Regularly remove lint from the dryer screen. Even try to make it a habit to do this after every load of laundry that you remove from the dryer. Additionally, be sure to clean behind your appliances, removing any lint from there and in any exposed vents. 92% of all laundry room fires start as a result of lint, so this seemingly obvious action can be of grave importance.

Remove clothes from the drier immediately. If the conditions are right (pile large enough, material has the correct physical properties, etc.) the heat inside the pile could build up faster than the heat could leave the pile which could result in spontaneous combustion.

Make sure that your appliances are plugged in correctly. The outlet needs to be of the appropriate wattage for the associated appliance. Additionally, you should never use an extension cord to power a washer or dryer. Make it a rule not to overload outlets in general.

If you do experience a house fire for any reason, SERVPRO of Central Oklahoma City is here to help! Give us a call at (405)252-9400 and our crew will be dispatched and began restoring your home and belongings to preloss condition!