Two years of fixing dryers and I finally get why people misuse the lint screen

I've been doing appliance repair around Columbus for about two years now. Most dryer calls I go on turn out to be a clogged vent or a bad thermal fuse. But I keep noticing something else. Homeowners are washing their lint screens in the sink with soap and water. They think it keeps the screen clean. The problem is it leaves a film that blocks air flow, and then they blame the dryer for taking three cycles to dry a load. I finally had a customer show me her routine last Tuesday, and it clicked. She'd been doing it for years because a blog said to. I told her to just brush it off with the soft brush on her vacuum hose or rub it under running water with no soap, then let it dry completely before putting it back. She called me back two days later saying her clothes dry in one cycle now. Has anyone else run into this, or is it just a Midwest thing? Am I missing another common misuse I should warn people about?

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victor_carr2528d ago

Wait a minute, maybe washing the lint screen is actually the right move here. Soap breaks down the oils and fabric softener wax that build up over time, and plain brushing just smears that stuff around. A thin film of soap is way less of a block than a layer of greasy residue you can't even see. Plus, those screens are made of metal mesh, so water and soap aren't going to hurt them at all. Honestly, the real issue might be that people don't rinse well enough or they put it back while it's still wet, not that soap is the enemy. Your customer's improvement could just be a fluke or a placebo effect, and you're basing your whole theory on one person. And if a blog said to do it, maybe that blog had a point, because plenty of manufacturers actually recommend mild soap for cleaning these things.