If your facility or business has on-site laundry facilities you understand there are certain maintenance activities which are essential to ensuring employee and customer safety. These types of locations include laundromats, janitorial/cleaning companies, hair salons and condos/apartments to name a few. A key maintenance activity is cleaning dryer vents to avoid lint build-ups and corresponding fires. To reinforce the importance of this, remember every year there are 15,600 dryer fires and over $100 million in property damage just on the residential side. Imagine the cost of a building full of belongings.
How Do You Know When Dryer Vents Need Cleaning?
If your tenants or customers are complaining about how long it takes to dry, that would be the most apparent sign it is time to clean the dryer vent as it is likely they are clogged. Another sign is when the dryer becomes oddly hot during the drying process. Obviously a dryer is always warm when it’s running, but you should not be able to see hot air coming from the dryer and your customers/tenants should not feel their clothes are overly hot when removing them. Finally, if you smell that burning smell similar to the first time you start your furnace for the season, be sure to stop the machine and call a professional. This is the warning sign before it becomes potentially critical.
How Often Should You Get Your Commercial Dryer Vents Cleaned?
Commercial dryer vents are much larger and therefore the perception is they may not need to be cleaned as often. Consider the usage level in a commercial facility compared to a residence. Most homes do laundry one or two times a week, unless of course you have members of the household who generate more need. In a commercial setting, running the dryer once or twice a day would be an anomaly. It’s more likely to run the majority of the time it’s available to the public or staff.
Leading appliance manufacturers recommend annual dryer vent inspection and cleaning. Businesses such as laundromats may choose a more regular cleaning program to ensure they are getting the most out of their machinery as well maintain or increase profits by shorter run times.
Manitoba fire codes recommend dryer venting to be cleaned at least annually or as otherwise required. Certain insurance policies do have caveats which could void your insurance if not abided by so be sure to understand your own requirements.
Commercial dryer vent cleaning is best left to professionals and we recommend engaging our team who have experience with un-clogging commercial equipment and will do a full inspection to identify future risks. Let us help you protect your business.
