Saving us from ourselves

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how our high-end, LG dryer was a lemon. After considerable investment of time with dryer repair people and our general contractor, I've learned that LG is trying to protect me from myself by making it's dryer oversensitive to heat in order to prevent dryer fires.

I have no doubt that dryer fires happen and are very dangerous. We clean the lint after every dryer cycle and I'm fine with having the exhaust cleaned annually if lint builds up there. We also have a sprinkler system throughout the house in the event of a fire to put it out. So, LG, I'd really like my dryer to be my responsibility to keep from igniting.

There is an internal trip wire in the dryer (and,according to my General Contractor, every high end dryer made in the last 2-3 years) that cuts off the heating mechanism if it senses that the dryer is not getting enough air. Let me be clear, the dryer is vented. In any case, the only person who can access and reset this trip wire is a dryer repair man. Thank G-d we got the extended warranty because this person has been at my house at least five times. He'll be coming again next week, although he may not know it.

According to the General Contractor, he is re-installing dryers in every house he does because if the exhaust is longer than SIX INCHES, the dryers trip off. Six inches is roughly the width of an exterior wall - meaning that if your high end dryer isn't backed-up against an exterior wall, you are going to have this problem. Our laundry room is a shocking 8 feet from the exterior wall. Our solution will be to re-route the exhaust from under the house to visibly through our laundry room. We're considering adding an exterior booster fan to keep pulling the hot air out of the dryer. Because, with a family of six people living here,three of which are under 7, we need a working dryer. Please LG (and every other dryer manufacturer), let us reset our own trip wires and take responsibility for ourselves. Really, I can handle it.