Life Hack: Tips to avoid fire risk when using your tumble dryer

It comes as Aviva warned a common money-saving step can increase the risk of fire when drying clothes

Have you been washing your clothes at a lower heat to save on bills?

It may come as a surprise, but a leading insurer says a common money-saving method for laundry can increase the risk of a fire in your home.

In recent days, Aviva Insurance Ireland has warned that tumble dryers can pose a serious fire hazard when not used or maintained properly.

They revealed that forensic investigation reports into some recent significant value fire claims recently, found that the cause of the fires was as a direct result of non-compliance with the safety guidelines around tumble drier usage, with one washing method in particular being highlighted by Aviva: washing clothes on a lower heat.

“Issues can arise where users wash clothes in lower temperatures to reduce energy costs as oil or grease residues may still be on the clothes when the washing cycle completes,” said Gillian Devereux, senior loss adjustor at Aviva.

“The risk is then heightened when users remove the clothes from the tumble dryers without allowing the cool-down cycle, to further reduce energy costs. The hot clothes that still contain oil residues can very quickly ignite, causing significant fire damage.” 

This has affected both home and business customers with the insurer.

“We don’t see these claims every day but when we do see them, they can result in considerable damage and, in some instances, a total loss of the property resulting in devastation for our insured’s home or business premises. This is evidenced by the last two customer claims that we received, which had a combined value of €2 million, both of which in these instances were commercial customers.” 

#Life Hacks

Life is hard enough without being aware of these simple life hacks. Read on.

Aviva suggests anyone using a tumble dryer should be aware of the following points:

Make sure someone is present when the tumble dryer is in use.

Have a working smoke alarm and test it regularly, ideally once a week. Have an escape plan prepared in the event of a fire and stay out of the building if there is a blaze, do not go back in.

Remove any build-up of lint regularly from the dryer unit. If you don’t clean the filters regularly a build-up of lint/fluff can get into the air distribution system and reach the heater where it can ignite. In addition, if you don’t clean the filters this can reduce airflow and increase temperatures within the unit, increasing fire risk and affecting the dryer’s performance, resulting in longer dryer times and more electricity usage.

Do not stop the dryer mid-cycle when the contents can be extremely hot. The clothing must go through the cool-down cycle before being removed from the dryer unit as the contents can be extremely hot.

If the clothing contains oil residue, washing/laundry detergent may not entirely remove the oil from the laundry. The remaining residue results in the clothing having a lower ignition point (the temperature at which they will catch fire).

Finally, if the tumble dryer needs repairs, ensure that the contractor is registered.