I had to learn the hard way....This may save your home (and pets!)

[Taz_Zoee]

I have never heard of the safety switch either. Our laundry area is in the garage, down two steps from the house. So flooding wouldn't affect the house. BUT having the things maintained and cleaned out to prevent a fire....now that's something I must look into. Although, we never leave the dryer running if we are not home. But still, I will look into anyway.

Thank you for the lesson, and I'm glad everyone is okay!

[Freedom]

Dear Sunny, for a young gal, you sure do lead an interesting life! I am so glad that you are fine and that Moon and Bean are ok too. Mom, now, she must have a afew extra gray hairs in there somewhere.

I will be sure to investigate about this switch.

I know we bought a brush and cleaned all the dryer vent about 4 years back. Not sure if the front of the dryer was taken off or not (Dad was already into the job when I arrived to help) Great stuff, thanks to all.

[krazyaboutkatz]

How scary. I'm glad that everyone is fine and that the mess was easy to clean up. I live in a condo and we have 4 large buildings in the complex. Each building has it's own laundry room so I don't have to worry about washer and dryer maintenance. Hopefully the company does it though. The dryers have the lint traps in front and I always make sure to clean them out after I've used them. Many people don't even bother.

[cyber-sibes]

Whew, how scarey! Glad you are all okay! I'd never heard of hoses coming off before, but I will check mine now. We have friends that lost their whole house when a fire started in the dryer - fortunately they were out, so no one got injured. I'd very careful to keep the lint vent clean, I even clean the outside vent where the air blows out of the house. You'd be amazed how much lint builds up in there! Guess I better go clean the bottom part, too. Good tips, thanks everyone.