The blog post that might just save my life
Mostly I'm posting this to force myself into action. You see, our dryer has a problem. A fire problem. It's not on fire, nor has it been on fire recently, but it smells like fire some of the time when it's running. It creates a sort of charcoal or kerosene smell that wanders around the apartment like it's looking for somewhere to sit.
I've had the dryer looked at by a certified dryer-person. He said it's fine and that it's not making the smell. The next place to turn one's attention to is the dryer vent, and this is where it gets harder. Partly because I can't get at the vent past where my dryer hose meets the ceiling. And partly because my downstairs neighbor just discovered that his dryer vent ends where his hose meets the ceiling. For years his dryer has been coating the gap between our floors with an extra layer of combined insulation and firestarter. I'd like to believe that my vent actually spits out the building somewhere like the units above mine, but I don't have any real reason to conclude such a thing.
It's been about a month since we ruled the dryer out as the problem, and in that month I haven't taken any action to look at the vent. After all, the reasoning goes, the building hasn't burned down yet. Maybe there's nothing to worry about. It's logic that feels fine when you're not looking straight at it, but looks suicide-stupid when you write it down and read it back to yourself. Which brings us to the promised life-saving power of Livejournal. I'm publicly stating for all to behold that tomorrow I am going to make an appointment with some contractor who specializes in ventilation to find out whether I have a real vent or a just a vent-shaped hole in the ceiling, and generally figure out what's generating a burning smell before it starts generating a burning building. Thank you, LJ, for helping me use peer pressure for the power of good.
I've had the dryer looked at by a certified dryer-person. He said it's fine and that it's not making the smell. The next place to turn one's attention to is the dryer vent, and this is where it gets harder. Partly because I can't get at the vent past where my dryer hose meets the ceiling. And partly because my downstairs neighbor just discovered that his dryer vent ends where his hose meets the ceiling. For years his dryer has been coating the gap between our floors with an extra layer of combined insulation and firestarter. I'd like to believe that my vent actually spits out the building somewhere like the units above mine, but I don't have any real reason to conclude such a thing.
It's been about a month since we ruled the dryer out as the problem, and in that month I haven't taken any action to look at the vent. After all, the reasoning goes, the building hasn't burned down yet. Maybe there's nothing to worry about. It's logic that feels fine when you're not looking straight at it, but looks suicide-stupid when you write it down and read it back to yourself. Which brings us to the promised life-saving power of Livejournal. I'm publicly stating for all to behold that tomorrow I am going to make an appointment with some contractor who specializes in ventilation to find out whether I have a real vent or a just a vent-shaped hole in the ceiling, and generally figure out what's generating a burning smell before it starts generating a burning building. Thank you, LJ, for helping me use peer pressure for the power of good.