dryer protocol

[eub]

I've always cleaned the dryer lint screen before each load, like the manufacturer says. In this apartment building's laundry room, I almost always find the screen already cleaned. People clean their own dryer lint.

Now this strikes me as socially responsible and morally upright. But I feel obliged to check beforehand anyway, because you never know, and if other people do too, well, it's consuming a bite extra of everyone's life to check before and clean after. Can I condone that? On the other hand, can I let concerns of efficiency disrupt this community of ethical behavior?

[Poll #24924]

Comments

[elletweedy.livejournal.com]

Even when I used my parents' dryer at our house in high school the protocol was "clean before". So, I probably learned from them that that's the way to do it. I usually don't think to check afterwards. But, I double check for lone socks stuck to the washer or loose in the dryer, so I consider that my gift to the laundry community. That and I don't leave my stuff in there for hours after it's done, like some uncultured hethens around here.

[beegle.livejournal.com]

I clean before with one exception: when I wash towels or something that I know'll leave a lot of lint, I clean after too. I usually find the lint traps dirty and it seems silly to clean twice. You can usually wash two loads without cleaning the trap, so not cleaning after doesn't screw the next person unless your laundry generates a lot of lint.

The laundry room on the other side of our building has a bunch of hand-scrawled notes bitching people out for not cleaning when they're done. I make a point of not cleaning afterwards there, and I actually go as far as not cleaning before if the traps aren't that bad (along with not cleaning after). Shrill people deserve a tweaking.

[ironangel]

hmm. having your pwn house changes things a bit, I think.

as far as I can tell (this is a reflex at this point), I check before, an dusually clean it after as well. I think.

:)

[ziactrice.livejournal.com]

Always check and clean after. This is to prevent the dryer catching fire! Who wants to take a chance on that?

Oh, and stick a vacuum hose attachment down it twice a year to get out the bits that fall below the screen. Again, so it will not catch fire. Fire in the laundry room isn't fun. ;) I think it is worth the time spent.

[beegle.livejournal.com]

I can understand "check and clean regularly", but why after?

I can't quite understand how something'd catch file while it was sitting there cooling. While the hot air's blowing across it, sure. That indicates, to me, the importance of checking or cleaning before. If it hasn't managed to burst into flame by the time the dryer turns off, what'd make it catch fire later (other than weird stuff like "I had gasoline all over my cloths")?

[ziactrice.livejournal.com]

Well, you'd really have to ask a person who is a professional regarding fires and how such get accidentally started, but at a guess, I'd say that the heat is still high when the dryer stops... and it is no longer blowing, so the heat is not being as immediately dispersed/cooled. The metal components may still be quite roasty, after all.

For another guess, if you have an electrical short either in the dryer, or nearby enough to throw actual sparks into the lint, it could start a fire quite quickly. I retain a small bag of lint in my cupboard (at some remove from the dryer), to use as kindling to start my fireplace wood. It works very well.

But, take this all with a grain of salt. I am by no means an expert on possible fire hazards. I've simply read the warnings in my dryer's manual.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I'm with Ziatrice -- laundry room fires are no fun, and I'm willing to extend a little extra effort to keep them from happening.

[eub.livejournal.com]

I do hope the building maintenance people do the sticking the vacuum down the dryer's gullet on a regular schedule. They're very good generally, but when it comes to dryers, well, with each load of laundry it's a game of Russian roulette whether you get the non-drying dryer.

[seanmcguire.livejournal.com]

The fact that I was answering without any idea what the topic was made this poll much more interesting. Although I'm somewhat embarassed by my various hypotheses as to what it was about.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

Number two is probably the right choice, but number three is what i always do.

[puuj.livejournal.com]

Most dryers, mine especially, actually say "Clean lint screen before use" and this is a good thing.

[ssaiscps.livejournal.com]

I always clean it beforehand, because some people seem to have large masses of wet lint they want to dry, judging from the giant mats i find sometimes.

the correct answer is clearly some sort of online, machine-learning based algorithm. you could treat the problem like a one-armed bandit problem, where you are trying to determine the probability of success at the bandit, in the shortest amount of time. you'd have to assign costs to checking, cleaning, not-quite-dried clothes, and of course, the scourge of humanity, drier fires. And, I suppose, the cost of coming up with an algorithm.