GREMLINS EXIST : THEY WANT TO DRINK YOUR TEARS AND GIGGLE AT YOUR MISERY

As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned that little Gremlins do exist. They drink human tears and giggle like 3rd graders playing with a whoopie cushion at the sight of misery and heartache. Gremlins have a special power of being invisible even though we walk by them every day in our homes.

The Gremlin I see most often while doing inspections is the “Dryer Vent Gremlin” (The DVG). The DVG causes approximately 3,000 clothes dryers to catch fire every year at a cost to homeowners of an estimated $238,000,000 according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). In 2005 dryer vent fires caused 418 injuries and 15 deaths. How does the DVG work his magical misery mayhem? Let me tell you how…

Dryer vents are often made of flexible plastic or metal ducts which can easily become kinked or crushed as they exit the dryer and enter the wall or floor. These airflow restrictions are a potential fire hazard because as the water evaporates out of wet clothes it also picks up streams of lint – highly flammable pieces of cotton & polyester – that can accumulate in these restrictions. If a dryer begins to malfunction by overheating, it can trigger sparks which then cause the accumulated lint to burst into flames. If you’re like me and my wife we often put a load of laundry in the dryer in the morning and leave out to work…this gives the DVG all the time in the world to do his dastardly deeds unobserved.

Luckily the Dryer Vent Gremlin is easy to defeat by making sure a.) the dryer vent is firmly connected to the dryer, b.) the vent has as straight as possible and no longer than 35 feet, c.) flexible, ribbed vents used in the past should be replaced with smooth ducting, d.) have vent “elbows” (places where the vent changes direction by 90 degrees) that are designed & manufactured to resist kinking, and lastly e.) make sure the exterior vent opening is able to easily and cleanly exhaust the air to the outside.

I HATE THE DRYER VENT GREMLIN WITH A PASSION and when I’m inspecting your home, I go out of my way to make sure you know if he is there lurking and waiting so we can kill him before he tries to devastate your life!