Putting oil-soiled items in the dryer?

Factual Questions
1

I noticed that my dryer has a sticker that says, “Do not put anything that has ever come in contact with oil in the dryer (even cooking oils). Doing so can lead to fire and death.”

I am pretty surprised. Do people really hang things up to dry if they have ever come in contact with any sort of oil? (Except, I assume, the oil that comes from our skin.)

For example, I often use cotton cloths to apply moisturizer to my face. The kind I use is almost all mineral oil. Am I really putting myself at risk if I dry those in the dryer? I’m assuming not, but they have indeed once come in contact with oil.

So yeah, any information is appreciated about oil and dryer fires.

2

I suspect that this is more about protecting the manufacturer from lawsuits than the user from conflagration. Like the ‘may contain nuts’ found on almost every food package, including nuts.

I image it would be foolish and dangerous to stuff your wet and oil soaked overalls into a dryer.

3

Oil soaked lint on the lint filter can make the lint filter airtight.

blocked lint filters cause fires.

4

Ah, so this is probably a problem with oil soaked things and not things that have “ever come in contact with oil”.

I just found that such a strange and foreboding warning.

5

The warning does seem a bit OTT. After all, all your clothing has come into contact with skin oils.

6

Commonly seen warning in laundromats, especially in communities near oil fields.

7

Did you know that you are not supposed to iron clothes while wearing them either?

8

Well, it seems obvious that you’re not supposed to put something soaked in a flammable item in the dryer.

But the two things that seemed weird to me were:

  • It specifically says not to dry anything that has “ever come in contact with oil”, which, as has been pointed out, all clothes have.
  • It says “even cooking oils” implying that small amounts of everyday oil might be a problem.
9

Decades ago when I lived in a military barracks we had a fool who got oil all over his fatigues. He decided to put gasoline on the oil spots then wash them. This created quite a fire when he put them in a gas dryer.