Five ways being a slob can kill you

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Living un-tidy is your business but when it comes to home appliance care, you’re putting yourself and your family at risk for a fatal accident if you don’t take care of a few basics.

1.       Lint-filled dryer venting.

Lint buildup + heat = fire. Every year, clothes dryers cause thousands of major residential fires in the U.S. and Canada. Most problems associated with dryers are caused by lint build up or blockage in the venting system. It causes a dangerous buildup of heat and an instant fire that spreads fast.

Yes, it really is that important to remove lint from the lint filter (a.k.a. lint trap) after every load.

And, once per year, you must clean out the entire venting system from inside of the dryer to the outside vent cap.  Use our bestselling 20-foot cleaning brush to easily remove lint buildup from within the entire tube. If you don’t feel like tackling the job, hire a professional ventilation cleaning company to do it for you.

2.        A dirty oven.

If you don’t bother cleaning up spills and splatters at the bottom of your oven’s cavity: watch out.

RepairClinic.com’s repair technicians gave me stern looks when I mentioned the piece of pepperoni that may or may not have been a tenant in my oven for a few weeks. Eventually, the pepperoni will smoke and then catch on fire, they told me. I have a spotless oven for life.

Not sure how to clean your oven? Check out our post Range Cleaning 101 by Ryan Huntley.

3.       A suffocated space heater.  

Due to their compact size, space heaters are vulnerable to tipping over, which can put them in contact with highly flammable textiles. Clothing, blankets, pet beds and toys should have proper storage locations – at least a yard (approximately one meter) away from the unit.

4.       A room that’s home to appliances and flammable chemicals.

You may have never thought about it but you likely own many chemicals– in the form of leftover paint, varnishes and other flammable chemicals used for painting, ice-melting salt and harsh cleaning solutions like bleach and ammonia. Many people make the mistake of storing rarely-used boxes of chemicals in a low-traffic area of a utility room or a basement – often in a low-traffic area such as right beside a furnace or a water heater. This is a fire waiting to happen.

5.      Disconnected or non-existent smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Never, ever live without properly-working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  Regularly test them. Change the batteries when Daylight Savings changes. Don’t disconnect a smoke detector when there’s a smoky cooking mishap. Take care of it right away. If you don’t yet have a carbon monoxide detector, buy one. Better yet, buy two.

Anything you’d add to the list? Please let us know below.

Share this post with your untidy family members and friends. Or, if you’re a clean freak, share this with teasing friends to prove that your obsessive cleaning tendencies makes you actually, likely, a hero.

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