Washer/Dryer Recommendations
- Thread starter DangerMouse
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travelover
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Motor could overheat. Also failure of pump or hoses can cause flooding. Hoses from faucet to washer should be changed every 5 years or so. They make braided metal ones that will last longer.
Older article, but probably still true
Most-Preventable Homeowners Claims from PEMCO Insurance; Burst Washing Machine Hoses Top List of Common and Costly Damages | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET
REWahoo
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Been there, done that.
DW started a load of wash and left for work at part-time job. Auto shut off for out-of-balance spin cycle malfunctioned. Machine "walked" away from the wall pulling both hoses to the breaking point. DW returned 4 hours later to water 3-4 inches deep throughout single story house. Shoes floating out of the closet. Thousands in damages.
They do make electronic devices that sense water on the floor and turn off the hat and cold water to the washer. Like this. $139 isn't too bad, and folks should get a discount on their insurance for this kind of thing (they should be mandatory in multistory apartments).
travelover
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Not as good, but for the thrifty, you can get these water sensors for about ten bucks. Good for water heaters stuck away in a closet, basements prone to flooding, etc. Naturally you need to be home to hear the alarm.
Amazon.com: Zircon 64003 Water Detector with Leak Alert: Home Improvement
Amazon.com: Zircon 64003 Water Detector with Leak Alert: Home Improvement
haha
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Hey, don't all millionaires go to the laundromat?
A few years ago when I still lived in my house my washer broke. I thought heck with it, I'll just go to the laundromat. First, no way could I go a month between washes. More likely weekly. So I come out into the rain or snow with my freshly folded laundry. What fun! Then occasionally drop some on the wet pavement. More fun!
Now I have the best of all worlds. No W/D, but a laundry room in my building that is rarely used in the morning except weekends.
ha
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DangerMouse
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I often leave the house whilst the dryer is running. You would have to be a real numb-nut not to clean the lint filter on a regular basis so I am not concerned about the dryer catching fire. Actually if the damn thing is going to catch on fire it's better that it happens whilst I am out - it's not as if I could do anything by being home. As to the question of the children catching alight, as we don't have any I would be very confused to come home and find our children had burnt.
It's not the lint filter, it's the dryer exhaust.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/how-clean-is-your-dryer-exhaust-38568.html
Another friend of mine had a sparkly-clean lint filter, but we pulled a basketball of lint out of a four-foot exhaust hose. Probably a 15-year collection.
RustyShackleford
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I'm sure Nords meant the lint filter AND exhaust. I've met numb nuts,
I know numb nuts, and Mr Nords, sir, is no numb nut.
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DangerMouse
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The Nords post made me curious about our own situation with the venting. I just went and checked and we have about a 5 ft length of that silver thing which is new as they installed it when they installed the machine this week. It vents directly outside the house so I am not overly concerned about it catching fire and I will make a point of cleaning it out every year as a precaution.
I am not sure why anyone would not regularly clean their lint filters as I have noticed the performance diminishes when it is clogged.
That said, I am not in the least bit concerned about my dryer catching fire so I am more than happy to leave it on when I am out the house.
BTW those of you who want leave the house when it is on, if it did catch fire what are you planning to do? If it started smouldering are you regularly within sniffing distance. Personally I would be more concerned about running the dryer when I went to bed.
I am not sure why anyone would not regularly clean their lint filters as I have noticed the performance diminishes when it is clogged.
That said, I am not in the least bit concerned about my dryer catching fire so I am more than happy to leave it on when I am out the house.
BTW those of you who want leave the house when it is on, if it did catch fire what are you planning to do? If it started smouldering are you regularly within sniffing distance. Personally I would be more concerned about running the dryer when I went to bed.
If the "silver thing" is smooth metal, then you've got the best situation. If the "silver thing" has accordion folds and looks like a big slinky, then that is not as good. It is still much safer than a vinyl-type slinky hose that used to be common. The metal accordion-type hoses are more prone to catching lint (because of the roughness and because the greater surface area leads to greater cooling of the surface and more condensation inside).
Smoke detectors and smell would be the primary warning. And, yes, I'd investigate and if the fire was confined to the dryer cabinet I'd probably have a go at puting it out after everyone was out of the house. I'd guess the 10 lb dry chemical extinguisher blasted into the dryer exhaust port outside the house would knock things down quite a bit, and I might have a go with a garden hose after shutting off all power to the house. At least it would keep me busy until the fire department arrived. Best of all. I'd have a story to tell later.
The most frequent (but not most serious) fires onboard my submarines came from the ship's laundry dryers-- lint in the heater coils. The stench is unbelievable (the burning lint, not the laundry) so "sniffing distance" is probably measured within tens of feet. Usually the combustion is occurring near the dryer's electric heating coils, not in the (plugged) exhaust hose, so popping the breaker and clearing the scene is all that's necessary.
The "approved" extinguishing agent would be CO2, but one of those home multi-purpose powder extinguishers would work just fine if no one else needed to dry their wet laundry anytime soon. I wouldn't be very enthused about attacking an electrical fire with a water hose unless I was sure that I'd removed all the power. Even then, knowing my luck, I'd ground out a capacitor. But a water hose is better than nothing and I've never known anyone killed by the shock.
My last military job was at a training command that included a fire trainer. It was fueled by propane and filled with sensors. For max realism, the trainer's performance was based on Naval Research Lab test data from an instrumented (decommissioned) submarine hull. To put out a fire in the trainer, you had to apply the proper extinguishing agents at the correct locations for at least a minimum amount of time or the computer would keep the fires burning. It really drove home the submarine firefighting concept of "stand and fight".
One of our instructors lived in the end unit of a base-housing quad. One evening his neighbor at the other end of the quad set his kitchen on fire (dinnertime) and the smoke detectors alerted everyone. Jake's instinct was to see if anyone needed help, and when he arrived the fire was really just getting going. He grabbed a garden hose and started fighting the kitchen flames from the yard, having things all to himself during the 10 minutes it took for the fire crew to arrive. It cost him his eyebrows and his forearm hair, "as usual", but he saved the rest of the structure.
No one was hurt. It turned out that the dinner chef had a pan fire that he tried to put out with an extinguisher, splattering the flaming oil all over the kitchen. If he'd just had the presence of mind to shut off the burner and put a lid on the pan it would've saved his family a couple weeks of hotel living.
And yes, my kid and I have practiced her extinguisher technique on our BBQ and her pan-lid technique in the kitchen...
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
What Nords and samclem said, plus - we don't run the dryer when we are out OR after we go to bed. Last load goes in in time to dry. Dryer fires are very real, they happen.
Do you have neighbors? You are putting them at risk if a fire starts in your house while you are away, and it spreads to their house. And you are putting firefighters at risk, who are going to try to determine if anyone is at home. You know, dryer was on, maybe someone is in there?
Too bad some of us can't get lower insurance premiums and lower taxes to support the local fire departments for taking reasonable precautions that others do not.
-ERD50
