[jmacusa]

Clean out the lint screen up front—simple as washing your hands to prevent the spread of germs.

[Smokin' Joe]

Throughout the service life of the machine, the lint screen has been cleaned after every load. If anything, that might work against you because the fine lint particles, the sort which had accumulated in our machine, would blow through the screen.

The reason lint was accumulating inside the dryer was the ill-fitting pipe the manufacturer had used to connect to the vent line outside the dryer which allowed blowback into the case of the machine.

[luvbach1]

Clean out the lint screen up front—simple as washing your hands to prevent the spread of germs.

I think you're on to something. I've used electric dryers for decades, following the routine above, and never have had a problem. I strongly suspect the dryer was used without cleaning the lint filter before every use.

[cuban leaf]

A friend had a housefire back in the mid-70’s caused by the dryer. I’ve always seen dryers as the Achilles heal to home fire prevention. You can do everything else right (and even be anal about it), but if you don’t inspect your dryer, your home can be a house fire waiting to happen.

We moved to a rural area for the first time in our lives. We noticed our fire insurance was rather high, considering, and someone mentioned to us it is because there are no hydrants nearby and the fire department is “volunteer”. We realized that we needed to be more proactive about preventing and protecting against fire.

Our first step was to buy fire extinguishers for the first time in our lives. (we’re both 58).

And I’m almost paranoid about the dryer. :-)