One of my friends emailed me the other day regarding something we all should know about. (perhaps not all of us, but those of us who use clothes dryers and dryer softener sheets.

Apparently, my buddy Bob had a maintenance man over to look at his clothes dryer because the heating unit went on the fritz. The man said that he wanted to show Bob something and went over to the dryer and pulled the lint filter out. The lint filter is made out of a mesh material and collects all those bits and pieces that come from our clothing. The man ran hot water over the filter and the water just sat on top, when it should of be running through the filter. The maintenance guy told Bob that dryer sheets cause a film over the mesh and this in turn can help burn out your heating unit. The dryer sheets have a waxy feeling to them and this waxy film is the cause of this. You can’t see the film, but it is there. 

I had to check this out for myself, so,  I headed down to the basement pulled my dryer filter that I do clean on a regular basis and ran it under hot water. The guy was right, the water just pooled on top and nothing drained through. I took a little green degreaser and a toothbrush and cleaned my filter. After that, I tried running water on the filter again and yes, the water ran easily through. I’ve been doing laundry for over 30 years and no one ever informed me of this.  The maintenance man said by cleaning your filter every so often it will prolong the life of your dryer and save electricity. What a great email to have shared, thanks Bubba.