amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

qtkitty · 12-25-2004, 09:28 PM

Cross Post:: HELP!!! How do you Clean a dryer?

HELP!!! How do you Clean a dryer?
We are moving and the next place has a dryer .. well its been sitting in a building out back for a while .. supposedly it works .. we have to hook it back up ....

what all should we look for and do to clean out the dryer so there isn't anything in there thats Icky

Im planning on washing the washer with maybe a load of borax or bleach to clean out what ever type of detergent the people used before since Kevin has sensitive skin.

any hints or tidbits for me?

kkdmommy · 12-25-2004, 09:41 PM

You know, I would think running a couple of clean towels through the dryer on hot would clean it up fine...unless there's something visibly "yucky" in there.

qtkitty · 12-25-2004, 09:57 PM

kkdmommy~~ Thank you .. i will try that

I haven't opened up the dryer .. when we went and looked at the place it's out in an out building for some reason ... since our dryer doesn't work this will be a great change for me

I was afraid to open it because it't all dirty on top ..and Cobwebby..

YUCKY ..

When we go to get stuff set up to move in .. i'm taking bug bombs .. i know gross chemicals .. but I saw a live wasp flying around in there .. and this place has been closed up for a while .. soooooo .. Yeah .. wasps in the house NOPE NOPE NOPE!!... Then i am going to go in with my bucket full of baking soda, vinegar, bleach, and Oxy Clean. I hate it when places are closed up for long periods of time.. they always smell unless closed upcorrectly.

Candace · 12-25-2004, 11:12 PM

Hmmm - maybe soak a couple of junky towels in bleach water and run them in the dryer, than wash them so they don't get eaten.

Wanna hear something gross? Once I must have neglected to scoop out the cat pan a bit too long and one of my cats pooped in my dryer, UNBEKNOWNST to me!

(I don't make a practice of leaving the dryer door open, but you know what they say - stuff happens...

) I threw my freshly washed floor rags in there and ran them. Boy was I surprised when they came out all covered with brown stains! What is this crap? Oh!! It's CRAP! Eeeeeew.

But the dryer itself was not that bad. I think I had to rub one or 2 spots with a bleachy rag. I'm just sooo glad it was my floor rags going in there, not the cloth napkins or clothes or something.

copmom · 12-25-2004, 11:43 PM

Remove the lint filter - put the needle nose on your vacuum hose and vacuum out the lint trap area. If it hasn't been hooked up - run the vacuum through the exhaust area (the vents on the back.) You can usually pop the front bottom panel off (sometimes it's screwed on) and vacuum around the drum and the floor area of the dryer. Suck out as much dust and lint and fluff you can before you run it - cuts down on the fire hazards and helps the dryer run more efficiently. You should do this at least a couple of times a year.
If your vacuum isn't able to pull the lint out of the trap area, you can buy a tool that will clean that area out - it looks like a big bottle brush with a long flexible handle - able to bend around and catch the lint in the trap areas.