*published Sept. 8, 2005
We handled the mishap in true Carline fashion. First, we had momentary confusion trying to figure out what smelled like it was burning and why the smoke alarm was growling. As I turned to point out to my husband, Dale, that the smell was in the hallway, I saw the flames shooting out from under the front of the clothes dryer. The alarm and I reached our maximum volume at the same moment.
"It's the dryer," I said as I quickly turned it off. Unfortunately, unlike turning off a broiler that has just cremated your $25 steak, turning off the dryer did not kill the flames.
After confusion, came action; I sprinted to the kitchen to get the fire extinguisher. We've had our extinguisher for several years, keeping it in the kitchen because the experts told us to. This is the first time we had to use it, and the fire was at the other end of the house. As I scampered back to the laundry nook, I decided to rethink all of our safety equipment storage.
Handing the extinguisher to Dale, he spritzed the dryer once and put out the fire. While I was running to the kitchen, he had already turned off the gas. Then we both opened enough doors and windows to drive the smoke out and silence the alarm.
The next morning, I called the manufacturer, who was suitably upset that their equipment caught fire. The nice woman offered to send a service representative to evaluate the damage for free.
"When was the last time you had your dryer serviced?" she asked me.
Since this was the first time the dryer had misbehaved, I told her, "Never."
This was not a good answer. "Ma'am, you really should have your back panel vacuumed out once every six months. Our user manual does recommend that."
I do remember reading that in the manual, but I ignored it, for the simple reason that I didn't believe it. My previous dryer had lasted for 15 years and all I did was keep the lint filter cleaned. This was supposedly a more prestigious brand – why should it need that kind of maintenance?
Besides, with all of the problems I have getting service on broken appliances, I can't imagine trying to set up an appointment for vacuuming. I'm already low enough on their priority chain.
Two days later, a young man actually showed up within the scheduled window and told me that the manufacturer would probably be giving me a new dryer, or at least fixing the old one at no cost. Of course, it may take a couple of weeks to get any of this accomplished. A couple of weeks of living without a dryer…
So if you see clothes hanging on all of the trees on Hollyhock Lane, they're mine.