My family had a house fire in 1994 that started in the dryer while we were not home. 2 months living with friends, $100,000+ worth of damage, 2 dead cats, 2 dead dogs, 2 dead birds.
In short, no, nobody in our family ever leaves the dryer running while we are not home.
I clean out the lint trap after every use and I NEVER leave it running when I’m not there. I’ve heard too many stories like Hirundo82’s
The thing is, apparently it was lint behind the drum of the dryer that caught fire. With how meticulous my mother is, I’m sure she always cleaned out the lint trap before running the dryer. It was an old dryer (that we brought with us when we moved into the brand-new house two months before) and I guess lint had been building up in the back for several years.
I often leave the house with the dryer running.
No, I don’t. Nor do I go to sleep with the dryer/dishwasher running. Not a nervous nellie, just cautious.
I always have; never considered it might catch fire. When I own a home, I’ll make it a point to watch out for that.
Jeezopete. I had no idea that a dryer could cause a fire. I’ve let mine run when I’m not here a LOT. I’m gonna rethink that position.
I do clean the lint filter every load, and I’ve trained my husband to do the same. But better safe than sorry!
Another blow struck against ignorance, y’all.
This is an important point, it isn’t just cleaning the internal lint trap, you need to check the exhaust system. I think it’s recommended that this be done yearly. The buildup is slow, but can become dangerous over time.
About 15 years back my neighbor left the dryer on while running errands, they returned to find the fire dept. waiting for them. They had an enclosed back porch, where they raised birds for the pet industry. The porch and part of the kitchen were damaged and all the birds were dead. The owner had the house bulldozed few months later.
It happens. I suspect probably more these days than 20 years ago due to the dryer sheets that are now so popular. The sides of the vent below our lint trap are covered with a sticky residue to which lint clings. It seems to be the static-free stuff from the dryer sheets that is coating it. We try to use a lower heat setting to try to minimize the chances of combustion.
Anyone else think of the final scene in “Neighbors”?
As they are driving away, the Belushi character is worried that he left one of his major appliances on.
Ackroyd respond, “It will stay on, Earl!”
The opposite half of a double I was renting caught fire because they left their dryer on. Still, I guess I don’t think it will happen to me. I do occasionally leave it on.
No way, Jose. When I was renting a coach home a few years ago, one of the neighbors was running their dryer at night while they were sleeping. The whole BUILDING was asleep until the firemen came banging at the door because the whole damn building was on fire.
I don’t leave ANYTHING on when I leave the house.
That must catch the neighbors’ attention.
Wait - are we still talking about appliances?
When I leave the house, I disconnect all the appliances and pile them on the front lawn where I’ve already stacked all the power tools next to the lawn mower. Then I back away very slowwwwwllly…
Yeah, but do you do it before 10 a.m.? 
I, too, have an fire phobia & after reading this thread I think I’ll ONLY run the dryer when I’m not at home. Jeez, I don’t want to be around one of those flaming death dealers, and I sure don’t want my kids in the same house as one…
I clean the lint trap before and after every load (yes, one of those is redundant, but BSTS!)
We leave the house with the dryer running all the time.
Out of curiosity, how many of you who don’t leave the house with it running have kids? We’ve got 3 who are 6 & under, and frankly, the washer & dryer are running pretty much all the time. Having to choose between doing laundry and grocery shopping instead of doing both simultaneously would eat up even more of our time.
My dryer’s instruction book was quite firm that unless you allow the 12 Minute Cooldown Sequence[sup]TM[/sup] to run, you risk spontaneous combustion so you should ALWAYS make sure the 12 Minute Cooldown Sequence[sup]TM[/sup] is allowed to run uninterrupted… which kind of puts us in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation should we unexpectedly need to go out. Leaving the dryer running unattended = bad. Stopping the dryer before the vital 12 Minute Cooldown Sequence[sup]TM[/sup] has worked it’s magic = also bad. If it’s already in cooldown mode as you’re leaving well… it’s only 12 minutes, max, until it stops anyway. However, should it not be in 12 Minute Cooldown Sequence[sup]TM[/sup] mode then you’re out of luck.
This might be the thread that you remember.
I’m truly baffled why dryers are manufactured with manual (untimed) settings. I can easily forget that I have something in the dryer. It’s comforting to me to know that my memory lapse won’t cause a fire. I can deal with damp clothes that need to be rewashed.
I clean the trap after each load and I never leave the dryer running. I might if I didn’t have my 2 doggies, 2 birdies and 1 ferret. I can replace the house, but not my animals.