Brilliant … But Bouncy

Has It Always Been This Hot?

My husband is a bit deaf. So a month ago, when the dryer started making a high-pitched squealing sound, Bill couldn’t hear it.

Then Shane came downstairs one evening and said, “Mom, there’s a really loud screeching sound coming from the laundry room and I don’t know what it is.”

I raced upstairs. The sound I’d heard earlier was substantially louder, like the wail of a dying walrus.

I calmly told Shane, “The good news is, Daddy will be able to hear it now!” Then I bellowed, “Oh Bill! You should probably hear this!”

I “helped” Bill by pointing at the dryer. “Do we need a new one?” I asked.

He was already pulling it away from the wall, seeking the source of the sound. “Maybe,” he said. “It’s awfully dusty behind there. Has it always been this hot?”

“What do you mean?”

“Put your hand here,” he said, laying his hand on the top of the dryer. So I did – and nearly scorched my palm.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t usually touch that part.”

“Huh,” Bill said. I figured my work was done, and left.

A few minutes later, I saw Bill going upstairs with the shop vac – normally reserved for basement flooding and gravel spills in the kitchen.

Wow, I thought. He must be cleaning up, for when the repairman comes.

The shop vac ran for 15 minutes. There was some clanging and a whir, some kind of electric tool. The shop vac ran for another 10 minutes. Eventually, Bill came back downstairs.

“Go up and tell me if you still hear the noise,” he said. As I mentioned, he’s a bit deaf.

I went upstairs. The dryer wasn’t making a noise. In fact, it sounded like it did when it was new. There wasn’t even a remote hum.

I put my hand on top, in the place that had seared my flesh. The dryer was cool. I checked other places. The dryer was cool all over.

I couldn’t believe it.

“You FIXED it,” I said to Bill. “What on earth did you do?”

“Oh, I just took it apart and cleaned out the lint. You wouldn’t believe how much lint I found. And I took the back off, you know, where the engine is? I cleaned out around there. And I made sure the area around the main bearings was clear, too. And then I just put it back together.”

“You fixed it!” I said, still awestruck. “I thought we needed a new one!”

“That was the next step,” he said. “I’m just glad you told me about it before the house caught on fire.”

And then I remembered my age-old worry that our dryer would catch fire, which is the reason I always clean every single scrap of lint from our filter.

Apparently, that’s not enough.

Dryer fires are one of the top ten causes of house fires. And no wonder! That thing was hot, the engine was caked in lint, and other than the almost-ignored squeal, we had no idea what was happening.

[Click here to save your own house from burning down.]

Bill may not be very organized. Like Dylan, he has an absolute inability to sit still or stay on one track for very long. And he forgets a lot of stuff – like what time the kids’ concert is, and to take pants on vacation.

But who cares?

The man saved our lives!

Of course, a few days later, the sound started up again – quietly. “Probably a bearing,” Bill said.

So we bought a new dryer anyway.