Introduction
Your dryer is one of the most important appliances in your home and most people still opt for a gas dryer since they are more efficient. If your propane dryer needs to be fixed, you can get it done by professionals by searching for “dryer repair near me”. However, if you use and maintain your dryer regularly, it will break down less often. Let’s check out how you can do that.
Tips & Tricks
- Vent checks – Propane dryers work flawlessly, cost less to operate, and are usually more reliable than their electrical counterparts. However, that comes at a cost. The dryer burns fossil fuel and in turn, creates toxic fumes that can kill you if they aren’t disposed of properly. That’s why almost all propane gas dryers have vents that go outside your home to vent out carbon monoxide and other harmful gasses.
If those vents are blocked for some reason, those gasses don’t have a way out and start flooding into your home. If your home isn’t properly ventilated, those gasses can accumulate and kill you silently by mixing with your blood cells and reducing your body’s oxygen-carrying capacity. That’s why you need to make sure that the vents aren’t blocked. Vents are open and warm places and that’s why they are a favorite for animals and insects to make nests. They can also get clogged by debris from storms.
Moreover, when vents are blocked, your propane dryer can’t operate efficiently and would cost you more money. The components also heat up and are more likely to break down. That’s why you need to make sure that your vents are always clear. Inspect it once every week and clear out debris or other things that may be blocking the vent.
- Leak checks – Propane dryers burn gas to generate heat and dry your clothes. That gas usually comes from a fixed line that’s installed by the utility company or filled manually with portable propane tanks. While the risks are limited when you use portable propane tanks, there are very few people who use that option. However, the risk of gas leaks is immense with gas pipelines.
The gas that’s supplied by those pipelines is highly combustible. If there’s a leak and it goes unnoticed, it’s one spark away from catastrophe. Apart from blowing out your dryer, it would also burn down your home and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of property damage and loss of life. That’s why you need to make sure that the gas lines, connectors, and valves are in perfect shape. You can also install a gas detector alarm to minimize those safety risks.
- Spacing – To keep your gas dryer in optimum shape, you also need to make sure that there’s adequate spacing at ventilation points. Gas dryers burn propane to create hot air and then circulate that hot air inside the dryer drum with a blower. That’s why they need ample gaps at the ventilation points to draw in air for both burning the propane and for circulating hot air inside the drum.
Usually, the ventilation points are at the back of the dryer, and it’s recommended to maintain a gap of around 6 inches behind the dryer. If the burner inside the dryer doesn’t get proper amounts of oxygen to burn the propane, it’s going to cost you more gas and also make the gas dryer break down more frequently.
- Clean the lint screen – The propane burning inside your gas dryer isn’t the only dangerous and combustible substance. Your gas dryer also collects a lot of dust and dirt on the lint screen. The lint collected is made from worn-out cloth fibers, dust, and all kinds of stuff that have been dried to their limit inside the hot dryer drum. That’s why they are quick to catch on fire.
They are so effective at catching on fire that campers and hunters collect them and store them in a jar. That’s why the lint screen needs to be cleaned every time you use the dryer. If the lint collected on the screen is not cleaned, it can come in contact with sparks or get hot enough to catch fire. Moreover, the restricted flow of warm air inside the drum makes for weak dryer performance that increases your utility bill and stresses the dryer components.
- Don’t overload – You’re not doing yourself a favor when you’re stuffing your dryer to the brim. You may think that you save on drying time, but overloading does more harm than good. When you overload your dryer, there is little space inside the dryer drum for the circulation of hot air. When hot air can’t circulate properly and reach all the items inside the drum some of your clothes will come out wet. If your dryer has a moisture sensor, then it will automatically increase the drying cycle and continue doing so till all the clothes are dry.
Apart from wasting more energy and time, you also make the burner, thermostat and other components inside the dryer work harder when you overload it. They are also exposed to heat for a longer period of time than they are supposed to. This eats away their life, and you end up with more frequent dryer repairs and component replacements.
- Use liquid fabric softener – While the liquid fabric softener is used in the washer, it can also help your dryer. The use of fabric softener reduces lint from your clothes. That means your fresh and clean batch of clothes takes less lint inside the dryer. Less lint means fewer contaminants that can make their way inside the sensitive components of the dryer and damage them.
Conclusion
Propane dryers are expensive and indispensable appliances for modern households. That’s why you need to make sure that they don’t break down. The above-mentioned tips should help you keep your dryer in top condition. However, if it does break down, you can search for “dryer repair near me” and hire professionals to fix it for you.
