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View Full Version : We smell SMOKE but cant see it!


gjnic
02-05-2005, 11:58 AM
Hi all,

Just a wanted to vent to poeple who understand. Yesterday at my mat, I smelled smoke but could not see it. I checked behind the dryers, in all the rooms and closets, even the attic. The smoke and fire detectors did not go off. I dismissed it as maybe someone went into the bathroom and smoked a cigarette. About 5 minutes later, my sister noticed the same smell, only this time, it irritated our eyes and and nose. We both search again with no avail. We gave each other this stupid look, evacuated the building, grabbed the cordless, and hauled butt. I called 911 and explained the situation. In less than 5 minutes (which seemed like 20) the fire department arrived. By then, the smell was coming through the resirculation vents to the outside of the building. They went into the building and one firefighter said "Thats the same smell I had when my wife burned my warmups in the dryer". Needless to say, one of the dryers had a fire in it. They opened the dryer door, and sure enough, someone had oversuffed the dryer with cloths, put more 60 minutes on the dryer, and the nylon warmups had overheated and set the rest of the load on fire.

They took the cloths outside, (by then every nosey person in the neiborhood was observing) dowsed them with water and stated "At least they got dry" At the time, it was not funny, but today, I see the humor. The owner of the cloths finally showed up, and asked where was his cloths, I pointed at the ground in the parking lot. It was his turn to have that stupid look.

In conclusion, the smell is awfull, and will probably be in the building for the next couple of days, the guy loaded the recoverable cloths in a plastic bag, and left without incident. I metioned to him while he picked up his cloths, "Thats why you should not leave your laundry unattended" I don't think he liked that too much.

I will count my blessings though, The dryer only had smoke damage, we cleaned it and it is usable. No repair costs, thank goodness. Well, its another memorable first for me. MORAL TO THE STORY: Where there is (the smell of) smoke, there is fire.

mike
02-05-2005, 05:25 PM
Every cloud has a silver lining,

Now you can advertise:

"Our dryers are hot, (for references please contact the local fire department)"

Anonymous
02-05-2005, 08:09 PM
Reminds me of the time I tried fixing our home dryer by tweaking with the temperature adjust thermostat.

My wife put in one of her shirts, took it out and it was the correct size for our 9-year old :)

- John

gjnic
02-06-2005, 12:39 AM
I like the sign idea. I will probably use that. It was free advertisment for me. People came to wash, just to ask what happened. Cha, Ching! I love the local news. Just goes to show that nothing much happens around here, if this is the neiborhood gossip.

Tom Ala.
02-07-2005, 09:34 AM
I had a similar fire in an unattended store, another customer called 911 The fire department came and removed clothing (let it burn in parking lot) dismantled the dryer with ax to make sure fire was out. I get here in time to turn power back on to building and thank fire men. The next day owner of cloths shows up and wants $600 for burned clothing.
Tom

mike
02-07-2005, 04:36 PM
I had a similar fire in an unattended store, another customer called 911 The fire department came and removed clothing (let it burn in parking lot) dismantled the dryer with ax to make sure fire was out. I get here in time to turn power back on to building and thank fire men. The next day owner of cloths shows up and wants $600 for burned clothing.
Tom

This post should be required reading for all those wanting to open a mat, who think they just collect the money :-)

pete f
02-07-2005, 08:47 PM
Hate to laugh at your expense, but I had to. I also have had a dryer fire, late at nite people smoking pot out back smelled something even funnier, they called fire dept. A restruant had washed soem towels, put in 2 quarters and left. The dryer stoppped, about 15 mins later smoke started comming out. Spontanious combustion. Fire dept took the stuff out and put in a bucket and hosed it down. Lucky for me they did not hack up the dryer, they even had fans to pull the smoke out of tyhe mat. Took a few weeks to get the smell out of the dryer. The restraunt guy came in looking for his stuff about a week later, i gave him the 5 gallon pail of charred towels.

About 4 months ago a belt started smoking on a Maytag washer, customer calls the fire dept. They shut off every machine in the place. I got there in time to turn them back on and pull a king size comforter out of the top loader. Got lucky again.

gjnic
02-07-2005, 11:15 PM
The guy who's cloths burned got his friend to ask if he would get compensated for the cloths. I told his as soon as I get the fire report stating that it was due to improper use, lighter in clothing, and over heating of his nylon garments, he would get whats left after my repairs and or replacement of the dryer. I ask him for a contact number for my insurance company and or lawyer to contact him when the estimates come, he said his friend did not have a phone. Man...I love player poker...he fell for the bluff. I don't think either of them will be back.

MichaelCa
02-08-2005, 04:46 AM
dismantled the dryer with ax
thats some delicate surgery


gjnic: way to go, excellent poker playing!

pete: i guess thats what you'd call THe POT calling the towels black?