Lint Alert Helps Prevent Dryer Lint Buildup

We’ve discussed in the past how important it is to make sure your dryer is always as clear and lint-free as possible. And you might think you’re doing a great job maintaining it, but the truth is that lint builds up in your dryer no matter how much you clean it out.

Lint builds up in the hardest to reach places in your dryer, most of them you won’t even notice until it because an incredibly dangerous fire hazard. So how are you supposed to detect lint buildup in your dryer if you can’t even see it?

We’ve discovered a great gadget that all homeowners with dryer units should use. It’s called Lint Alert, a small device that continually checks the performance and status of your dryer and tells you when there is lint buildup occurring.

Being informed of lint build up is one of the easiest and best ways to avoid a major problem with your dryer unit. Lint Alert works as a preventative method by informing you that there are clogs and blockages in your dryer vent using a lighted scale. When it lights up about halfway through the scale, you know it's time to get your dryer vent cleaned out by a professional.

Not only will Lint Alert keep your home safe, but an inefficient dryer takes more energy (and in turn, more money) to get your clothing dry. Lint Alert can prevent dryer fires while actually monitoring the efficiency of your unit, and that’s a win/win in our book!

Are you interested in Lint Alert? Give yourself peace of mind knowing you’re preventing dryer fire and other hazards in your home, give us a call today at (623)203-4698.

When to Change Your Air Filters

Air conditioner filters are a great way to, well, filter out contaminates from swirling around your home along with your cool air. They ensure your family is breathing the cleanest and healthiest air possible. With all the work these filters do on a daily basis, they need changing on a regular basis. It’s a detail homeowners often forget, but shouldn’t.  

It’s been said that homeowners should change their dirty air filters out for fresh ones every 3-6 months. However, there are a lot of factors both inside and outside your home that can demand a change even sooner than that.

The most obvious way to determine how often you should change your filter is by paying attention to what goes on in your home on a daily basis. Do you have pets? Pet hair is one of the most common filter clogs when it comes to your air conditioning unit. Dogs and cats have a tendency to shed, and if you have more than one pet, you can bet that your filters will be working overtime to clean the air of the fur.

Also keep your family’s allergies in mind. Sensitivities to dust, pet hair or any other household allergens can be another important reason to change your air filters more often, perhaps every 2-3 months. 

Sometimes you can't tell how dirty your filter is until you hold it up next to a clean one, yikes!

When it comes to what’s outside your house, keep in mind the area in which you live. Do you reside in a densely populated area, like a city? Is there pollution due to cars or factories nearby? This air gets brought into your house through open windows and doors, and your air conditioner filters out all these contaminates on a daily basis as well. 

These tips to determine when you should change your filter also work at the other end of the spectrum as well. If you have no pets and live in an area with fresh air and little pollution, you may not have to change your filters as often; sometimes 6 months to even once a year can be sufficient. 

If you wait too long to replace your air filters, they’ll become incredibly dirty and will need a lot more energy to work as efficiently, which will surely drive up your energy bills. While they work overtime, they’ll become weaker and can actually end up pushing dirt and debris back into your home. 

If you can’t remember the last time you replaced your filters, it’s been too long. Once you do replace your air filters with fresh, new ones, mark your calendar so you don’t forget when it’s time for the next change. This is a simple way to remind yourself to help keep your air as fresh and healthy for you and your family as possible.

Prevent Dryer Fire

 The (USFA) U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports there are approximately 15,600 house fires, 400 injuries and 15 deaths each year due to clothes dryer fires.  Failure to clean lint is a leading cause of fires as is improper installation and maintenance.  Clothes dryers force hot air through a revolving drum to dry clothes.  The lint that accumulates during this drying process is mostly caught in a filter known as a lint trap, but this only stops about 75% of the lint with the remainder accumulating in the dryer and dryer vent system.  This accumulation of debris reduces airflow through the clothes dryer, raises temperature levels, and provides a highly flammable source of fuel for a residential or commercial fire.  Read some nationwide articles of recent clothes dryer fires.

Dryer Fire Warning Signs

1. Your clothes are taking longer to dry (a properly functioning vent system with proper airflow will reduce energy costs by $10 to $25 monthly).
2. There is excessive moisture in your laundry room or a musty smell.
3. You notice dryer lint on the ground or sticking out of your dryer vent exhaust outside.
4. You notice lint around your dryer in the laundry room.
5. Very little lint is in your dryer lint trap.
6. Your dryers' vent system hasn't been cleaned in over a year.
7. You notice your dryer vent flap outside not moving when the dryer is on.
8. Your clothes dryer is vented with plastic or vinyl exhaust materials. 

A dryer vent before and after it's been cleaned to prevent dryer fire

Always Check Before Use

1. Lint filter is in place, clean, and has no rips in it.
2. Area around your clothes dryer is free of combustible material.
3. No synthetic material such as rubber, plastic, foam, or pieces of cloth used to sponge up flammable liquids (previously washed or not), are placed in the dryer.
4. Lint buildup on floor around clothes dryer.

Never

1. Service the dryer yourself, including cleaning of the chassis.  Always call a professional.
2. Put synthetic material such as rubber, plastic, foam, or pieces of cloth used to sponge up flammable liquids (previously washed or not), in the dryer.
3. Try to clean the dryer vents yourself without first verifying the material it is made out of - cleaning the wrong type of vent could make the problem worse.

Additional Considerations and Safety Measures

1. Make sure your clothes dryer is plugged into an outlet suitable for its needs.
2. You have a smoke alarm installed in the laundry room.
3. Your dryer is turned off when you are sleeping or have left the house. 

The Importance of a Chimney Sweep

Living in Arizona, we often aren’t clamoring to our fireplaces in order to keep warm. However, if you do have a fireplace, it’s important that you have it inspected and cleaned on a regular basis for a number of reasons, even if you don’t use it that much.

When it comes to your family, nothing is more important than health, and you want your home to be as healthy as possible. A clean out of your chimney will help keep your home free of allergens that can have an effect on you and your family’s health. 

Another health-related reason to keep your chimney clean is that regular maintenance will prevent water from rain storms from entering your home and causing damage to your chimney. If you chimney is damaged and cracked, it can let smoke and foul odors into your home. 

Dirt and grime can also block the flue, which causes the common problem of smoke buildup in your home. You may have forgotten to open the flue when lighting a fire in your fireplace a time or two, resulting in a smoky room that needs to be aired out. Smoke inhalation can be dangerous and incredibly unhealthy to breathe in.

Besides the obvious health reasons, it’s incredibly important to have your chimney inspected and cleaned for safety purposes. Even if you don’t use your fireplace that much (and we’re guessing in Arizona you probably don’t), cleaning can get rid of nests that could be potentially have been built by animals in the flue, which is very important to keep clean.

Also affecting your family’s safety are things like dirt and creosote, which is a chemical product, obtained by distilling tar. Excessive buildup of creosote is a fire hazard can actually ignite and cause a fire in your chimney, leading right into your home.


Now that you know why it’s so important to have your chimney cleaned and inspected regularly, we’ll tell you how often and when we think the best times are to do so.

The national Fire Protection Association recommends an annual inspection of your chimney, so start with the NFPA. They’ll come out and check your chimney to make sure it’s all in working order. If you don’t know the best time of year to do this, pick a time in early to mid-October, right before you really start firing up the, well, fireplace.

Once it’s been inspected for structural soundness, call a professional to clean your chimney once or twice a year, depending on how often you use it. We’re incredibly knowledgeable and careful when it comes to taking care of your chimney, so if you haven’t had it done in a while, call us today for a quote at (623) 203-4698.