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Fire Warning

Martin posted WPs fire warning in reply #11, this warning is on ALL WP laundry products for many years now.

 

While it is always good to keep duct-work and lint filters clean on any clothes dryer, NOT doing so does not cause many dryer fires, dryers today have plenty of safeties built-in to prevent dangerous operation.

 

This unfortunately is operator error, [ it could have happened to any of us including ME ] and the lesson I hope we all learned is to never attempt to dry clothing that had cooking oil or linseed oil on them unless you are completely sure that they are completely clean.
 
"It's not really your fault the detergent left enough cooking oil to oxidize and self ignite."

Cannot speak to modern times, but for ages laundry/housekeeping manuals gave specific warnings about things contaminated by flammable substances. Specifically such things were *not* to be machine dried unless or until one was absolutely sure all traces of oil, grease, fat, or whatever had been removed. This was on top of the warnings about using "home dry cleaning" solvents or spot removers then putting such treated items into a dryer.

It wasn't that long ago that housewives were using gasoline or kerosene to "dry clean" items at home. Then of course you had shop rags, rags your husband used when working on the car or some such, if your husband's job involved being in contact with petrol substances and so forth.

Restaurants are a particular worry because staff often use napkins or towels to clean up oil/fat spills. If those items are not disposed of/stored properly prior to laundering and or that process is not carried out properly you can have problems. http://www.semissourian.com/story/1778136.html

Many operating Laundromat or whatever business think doing restaurant/kitchen linen is nothing special. However it is a well known fact employees of such places often grab whatever is at hand (napkin or towel) to clean up any sort of spill. If these things are sent to the laundry and the operators do not know/understand what they are getting, again you can have problems.
 
>she is waiting for a call back from Whirlpool to find out if they can give us a good discount on a new dryer.

I hope they do. It would be a nice gesture.

One thought: if they balk, they could perhaps be persuaded by starting an on-line petition requesting a good deal on a dryer.

It seems to me that insurance should cover this sort of thing, although filing claims can sometimes result in higher premiums.
 
I can't figure out HOW we are supposed to know the items are completely clean.  I mean we put them in an automatic washer and it does it's thing...how are we supposed to know there is no more residue left in them?

The oil stains are gone?  What? How?

 

I don't use the my washer, dryer or DW unless I am going to be home for the entire time, but even then I am not exactly sitting in front of them...so...?
 
Through that whole video I was hoping he'd close the dryer door as to not feed more oxygen to the smoldering clothes, and I was appalled that there wasn't a fire extinguisher handy or that the guy didn't use one. [this post was last edited: 6/25/2015-23:35]
 
Oil/Fat/Grease

Terribly difficult to remove from textiles. Mainly because they are hydrophobic substances (repel water) that it often takes more than detergent/soap and water to totally shift.

Anyone who has gotten a mark from salad dressing or other oily substance on a blouse or shirt, laundered and saw the mark "gone" after coming out of the wash; only for it to reappear after drying with heat (tumble dryer or ironing) knows what one means.

A solvent is what is required to shift oils since they can get around the water repellent bit.

Historically a whole host of what we now know are nasty chemicals were used both commercially and domestically to deal with oil/fat marks. Benzine, 1.1.1. Trichoroethylene, perchloroethylene, naptha, and other substances derived from petrol including using straight gasoline. Indeed the great claim to fame for Fels and other "naptha" soaps was that bit of chemical (some soaps used benzene) shifted oils quite well.

Even today commercial laundries will often dry clean linens and garments with heavy oil/fat marks (more than can be simply just done on the spotting board), then launder by traditional methods and then dry/iron and or press. The dry cleaning solvents deal quite well with oils.

Massage therapists have a very hard time finding detergents that will shift oil from their linens. There are additives and or detergents sold to commercial laundries that are meant to deal with heavy oil stains. The formulas in such circumstances normally involve multiple washes (often at high temperatures) in an attempt to shift oil.
 
Did you know?

What has become known as "dry cleaning" was invented by a Frenchman?

After a maid upset an oil lamp onto a table cloth , Jean Baptiste Jolly noticed after the oil dried the affected area was cleaner than the untreated portion. The maid's name is lost to us but M. Jolly gave us "nettoyage à sec" (dry cleaning).

It is this association with France that gave rise to the marketing of "French" dry cleaning which you still see used today. Persons simply sought to cash in on the cachet of the associations with France and French culture to set that method apart from general laundry (with water).

Today of course it is all rubbish; Chinese, Korean, American, French, German whatever the nationality of the operator all dry cleaning works with the same process. The common industry joke about "French" dry cleaning is that it will cost the customer more for the exact same process.
 
"Operator Error"???

and "shouldn't have been using the sanitize cycle"??? I'd need a detailed WRITTEN (and signed) explanation from the repairmen in hand before I'd even consider buying that. I see a bit of a logic problem with the notion that a 'sanitize' cycle should not be used with machine washable/dryable kitchen linens. Are you confident the director's wife relayed this information accurately? 

 

Jerrod6 has taken a different approach to the same point I was trying to make. Millions of people get their shirts, napkins, place mats, and table clothes spotted, splattered, or covered in cooking oil (I'm thinking olive, especially) every day. These items are then machine washed and dried. Shouldn't dryer fires be occurring much more often than they actually do? 

 

Jim 

 

 
 
Not just cooking and food oils and grease-but how bout motor oils and greases?Happens where I work.The transmitters aren't squeaky clean electronic devices as most would think-the tune drives for coils and capacitors use grease and oil to lube them-yes it gets on our clothes.Use the hand washer stuff to get it out.That works!
Yes-dryer fire at that laundry-why didn't the guy just shut the door?And where were the fire extingushers?When he was trying to get into the door that was locked-if the fire extingushers were in there-just kick the door in!Getting the fire out is more important than the door!
 
And yet its so different on this side of the pond...

Any Branded and Supermarket own label detergent is capable of removing grease and oils and our washing machines are capable of utilising this.

Having worked in restaurants, fish and chip shops, pubs etc etc a simple task of putting laundry in to a low water using FL machine without pre treating anything, adding a good quality detergent and NO ADDITIVES, and setting the dial for a hot wash has never left oil residue on kitchen linen and we have never had a fire from our cooler lower wattaged dryers when they have dried.

Perhaps its time for american detergents to catch up big time with ours and for this daft notion poor performing machines that rely on the user to do 3/4 of the job (which isnt an automatic in my eyes) do be completely phased out. It really cant be that difficult to have wiring installed so you guys can have heated low water usage FL's that actually do the job properly first time over any TL or HE TL.

Maybe time to drop the heat in the dryers too to stop these fires happening. Very rare to read of a dryer fire here yet its so common over there.
 
Oh, that's the NEW warning. Sorry, I never owned anything that new.

Motor oils don't oxidize (to the point of self-ignition) at laundry temperatures.

Robert, have to agree (some) US dryers get too hot. I had a 90's Kenmore where I had to throttle the gas down. It got so hot it scorched the detergent scent. Quite unpleasant effect.

Detergents, I think we all strongly suspect P&G dumbs-down their stuff specifically to sell you additives. I mean, there are more flavors of Tide than there are of Lay's chips fer gawdsake.
 
Yes, some run hot, but others run cool. The Neptunes where I lived last fall ran cool. "Hi" was medium. "Med" was low. "Lo" was just a hint of heat.

OTOH, one dryer where I am now apparently has one setting: Scorch! I'm exaggerating, of course, but I try to use that one only for jeans, towels, etc.

Jim
 
Our Raytheon Amana dryer was a scorcher, our Samsungtag is not as hot but I only use medium heat for my clothes because of excess shrinkage/wear. Towels and other stuff gets High or "normal" as it says.
The electric Whirlpool dryer in my sisters duplex gets real hot and has a ton of airflow cuz it will dry almost anything even big loads of towels in no more then 40 minutes. (And the loads come from a DD TL so no super fast spin either)
 
Common Negative Comment Americans Have With European

Dryers is that they do not get "hot" enough. As such drying times are longer and even then things emerge "damp" but not dry. Of course to many "dry" means scorching hot. *LOL*

We are speaking of both vented and condenser dryers. Friends had a Bosch Axis they hated the thing with a passion. Sadly the "Euro" units were the only things that would find into the laundry area of their NYC condo apartment.

Think European electric dryers top out at around 3kW of power. OTOH American versions go to 5kW or more.
 
EU dryers not hot enough?

Those units (Bosch&#92Siemens) have a first target temp of 75°C (about 170°F) here in Europe, which is, in my opinion, way to hot.
They do use stepped drying (once iron dry is reached, temp is dropped by 10°C or 20°F to the "Low temp" target temp), but still, hot enought to shrink mostly anything.

Our Bauknecht heatpump dryer tops out at 65°C (150°F), which is ok. But usually, it runs quite a bit cooler.
 

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