Why Does My Clothes Dryer Smell Bad?

Introduction

Dryers are very convenient machines in the laundry room. They allow you to quickly dry your clothes without relying on the power of the sun. If your dryer breaks down, you can search for “dryer repair near me” and hire professionals to fix it for you. However, problems arise when dryers start to smell. The causes behind a smelly dryer are numerous. Let’s check them out.

The Reasons

1. Sweaty gym clothes – If you’re into sports or go to the gym regularly, then you’re familiar with the foul stench of gym clothes that instantly hit your senses. You’re very familiar with this smell since you may have forgotten to pull out gym clothes from the car before. However, this kind of stench is not expected when you open the dryer door. This usually happens when you put in mildewy and wet clothes inside the dryer.

While wet clothes are supposed to go inside the dryer, they should be clean and should not have any mildew. This happens when you leave your clothes inside the washer for too long and they develop mildew. Your washer becomes an incubation chamber for mildew and the smell gets progressively worse as those clothes are left inside the washer for a longer period.

Moreover, certain fabrics have a higher risk of developing mildew than others. Unlike pure cotton or wool, clothes made out of synthetic fibers like polyester catch mildew quite easily and retain the smell for a long time. That’s why it’s important to quickly transfer your clothes from the washer to the dryer. Set a timer for yourself when you put the clothes inside the washer. That way you’ll be instantly reminded to transfer those clean clothes from the washer to the dryer.

2. Mold – If you open the dryer to be hit by a strong moldy odor, then it’s highly likely that there’s a lot of lint buildup inside the dryer. Dryers have an exhaust vent and lint filter. If the lint filter gets blocked by excessive lint, the exhaust vent gets clogged up. When this happens, the filtration system inside your dryer doesn’t work properly.

If the filtration system fails to do its job, mold is going to take over the back of your dryer very quickly. When you turn on the dryer, those mold spores are going to circulate inside the dryer and spread the smell. That means your clothes smell like mold too. However, mold isn’t the only problem that you should be worried about when you have lint building up on your dryer filter.

Lint is extremely dry and highly flammable. That’s why campers and hunters like to collect it in a jar as a fire starter. When lint builds up inside the dryer it becomes a fire hazard. If the dryer gets overheated, the lint can catch on fire and burn your home down along with the dryer. There’s a risk of explosion as well if you use a gas dryer. Fortunately, this can easily be avoided by cleaning the lint after every load.

3. Burnt oil – When you cook more often instead of eating out or ordering takeout, you make healthier choices for your diet. It also means that you have made a mistake or two and know what burnt oil smells like. If you get a similar smell from your dryer, you’re encountering the most common problems of a newly bought dryer.

New dryers often have this problem and users experience this when they run the dryer for the first time. This isn’t an alarming situation. There are certain chemicals and oily layers inside the dryer that protect it and keep it “fresh” while it sits in the store or warehouse for a long time. When the dryer turns on for the first time, those chemicals and oils are burnt off.

So, if you get the burnt oil smell from your dryer, run it at high settings with an empty load. This allows the dryer to burn off all the residue and filter it out with its exhaust system. After that, the dryer should not retain that smell. However, if you get the same smell from a new dryer, or an old one, then it’s time to call a professional.

4. Burnt hair – Burning things smell very similar. That’s why most people won’t be able to distinguish between the burnt smell of oil and hair. If your dryer has a burnt smell and it’s not brand new, then the smell may be coming from burnt hair. You may feel like you’re very thorough and don’t put in clothes with pet hair or human hair inside the dryer. However, when you get the burnt hair smell, it’s usually due to an animal that may have found its way into the exhaust vent.

If an animal gets inside the dryer through the exhaust vent and you’re getting that burnt hair smell, then the animal isn’t alive anymore. The dryer heat should have killed it by now. On the other hand, there may be an animal nest inside the vent and that smell is permeating into the dryer. In these cases, it’s best to call professionals instead of taking things into your own hands.

Dead animals are a biohazard. They are the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of microbes that are designed to decompose a corpse. You don’t want to get near any of that without proper equipment and spread diseases. On the other hand, if there’s a feral animal nest inside the vent, it is carrying all kinds of unknown diseases. You don’t want to get bitten or scratched by them. That’s why you should hire a professional to deal with these situations.

Conclusion

Dryers can get smelly due to a lot of reasons. From sweaty gym clothes and burnt oil to mold and burnt hair. It’s important to address these problems quickly since some of those problems can also damage your dryer. In that case, you can search for “dryer repair near me” and hire professionals to fix it for you.