3 YO GE Dryer Catches Fire

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I’ve never really liked GE dryers, and the heating element to me is way too close to the drum and again I can guarantee that a lot of GE dryers in electric have gone up in flames compared to any other dryer made. Yes, the Halo Of Heat dryers from Maytag have a heating element that was pretty close to the drum but Maytag used a sensitive high limit the on both gas and electric models, and sometimes the high limit safety thermostat would cycle the heating element below the operating thermostat but Maytag did that for a reason to help prevent the dryer from overheating or scorching clothes.
 
Dryer Fires

Hi Sean, The MT HOH dryers were a far greater fire risk than even these cheap new dryers from GE, back in the 70s our store replaced several electric HOH fryers back to MT after serious fires, two DE606s and one of the new DE407s.

 

On these new GE dryers they have a minimum of three thermostats on the heater assembly, there is a safety to cut off all power, there is a modulating thermostat that cuts out one heater to control overheating which has a bias heater that allows the user controls to cycle the heater at lower temps to make the dryers heat more gentle ant there is a thermal fuse that shuts the whole dryer down if serious overheating occurs.

 

MT [ and most other dryers back in the 70s and before ] had none of these safety devices and dryer fires were far more common with these order dryers.

 

John L.
 
Dryer fire

The newer machines seem to be assembled to allow for less access to key areas that need cleaned. It is an absolute shame just as access to drain pumps are limited too. Our newer Duet dryer has been cleaned internally once as a result, but our old Kenmore was cleaned twice annually as they should be. Regardless of how thorough we are with lint trap cleaning, both the dryer and exhaust venting will still accumulate quite a bit of lint in 6 mos. I know numerous people that have never cleaned their vent, let alone their dryer or lint filter. People really don’t know how big of an issue it is until it happens to them.
 
I think GE's , and other home appliance makers, have a disqualification statement as part of their warranty.  Something to the effect that the appliance is intended for home use and the warranty doesn't cover commercial or heavy useage.  

 

In that circumstance, that dryer is probably running for several hours a day.  And people, when it's not their own (sometimes even when it is), don't take care of things.  
 
laundry habits

People that are stupid should be barred from doing any type of laundry, period! It just kills me how lazy they are. They don't clean the lint trap, sort their laundry accordingly, and use the wrong cycle. I've seen this in college at the dorms.
 
I have to agree!

 

With seemingly that much laundry to dry, a commercial or even industrial drying machine is unquestionably what that type of facility needs, as well as someone thoroughly qualified just in maintaining lint build-up in something as simple as cleaning the traps!

 

 

 

-- Dave
 
matching washer

And they should've had a matching washer and a lesson on how to do laundry properly. I swear, most college students are just stupid to abuse their machines then have the audacity to say the machines are broken. Granted, there are crappy machines out there.
 
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