Since there will probably be a solid sashing color, it won't be as strange as it seems right now. Of course I will lay it out first and then possibly decide that these need to live elsewhere. Whatever happens I didn't want to waste these bits of hand dyed fabric.
Basically I did this for stress relief. You see, Tuesday had an incident that disrupted my calm life. I had put some fabric in the dryer and was putting some clothing in the washing machine. I smelled an odd smell and my eyes started burning. Then I saw smoke coming from the dryer. I pulled the door open - which switched it off - and saw flames and ashes! I closed it, ran to the sink and got water, reopened the door and doused the flames. I started opening doors and windows and tried to get the smoke to go outside. The smoke alarms screamed and the one that talks said "Warning-Fire" repeatedly. Whew!
There is still some smoke smell in the house but it is mostly gone. The dryer is outside and will have to be replaced. The best guess is that the thermostat and/or the temperature limiter malfunctioned causing a high temperature in the dryer. That caused the cloth to burst into flames inside the dryer drum.
I am so grateful that I was right there and saw. smelled and reacted quickly. This could have been a major disaster - but instead I am safe - my house is standing and is still inhabitable. For that I am truly thankful.
FYI - I learned that 4% of all house fires are dryer related. Remember to check your dryer vents and clean them out yearly. I will be adding a new smoke alarm directly above the dryer when it gets replaced.
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10 comments:
Good grief!! Flames and ashes?!?!? Thank goodness you were there and that you reacted as quickly as you did to minimize the damage!! Stress relief was definitely needed at that point - good to see that you had something wonderful to play with - ;))
I'm glad you were right there when it happened. Smoke damage is no fun to clean up.
How awful! But so grateful it wasn't worse. Clear reaction apparently took over, and the odor will dissipate. Looking ahead, good advice about keeping vents cleaned out. I'm adding do not leave appliances running when leaving the house.
Your crazy piecing helped, I'm sure. I did a similar kind of crazy project as soon as we arrived back home from helping our daughter get settled into her college dorm. It was her first time away from home, and I had a ton of sad, nervous energy.
Whoa, scary! So glad you had a clear head to put out the flames and save the house! Good lesson to us all....don't leave the house with the dryer going. For me I include the dishwasher after an incident many years ago that could have been very bad.
Love your crazy piecing blocks, they can go with anything.
OMGosh, I have never heard of a dryer fire starting THAT way. When we moved into our first house our dryer caught fire from lint build up. We were young and didn't know we should check the previous owners vent maintenance. A good lesson learned early. I'm so glad you were close by when it happened.
Love your destressing sewing!
That is why I never run my washer or dryer when I know I"m leaving the house. So glad you were home to deal with it. While the dry is out it's a great opportunity to clear out the vent too. I'm a little obsessive about flood and fire risk.
Whoa...I'm so happy you and your home are ok. I like the idea of adding a smoke alarm to the laundry room. Why haven't I thought of that before? We do have our dryer vent and fireplace cleaned and inspected every year by our local chimney sweep.
So glad you were there to prevent the fire from becoming more than the loss of an appliance and a bit of smoke smell for awhile. It could have been so much worse. I told my family of your story as a reminder of why we never, ever leave the dryer on when we leave the house.
WOW!! Glad you were there to put it out!! Thanking God you are safe!!
Gene, that's scary! I'm glad you were right there, and nothing else suffered from the fire. I hope your eyes are not burning anymore!
When we moved to this house, the dryer vent had never been cleaned. When we called someone to clean it, the amount of crap that came out of it was scary and amazing. If we'd let it go and didn't do anything about it, we surely would have a fire. Ours was 98% clogged. The dryer really wasn't working well, but works much better now.
Sorry you have to spend money on a new dryer. I know those unexpected expenses aren't any fun.
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