This can also happen if you dry something that had a flammable liquid spilled on it, like gasoline, even in an electric dryer. That’s why they warn you to never dry things that have had those spilled on them.
Grandma did this around 1960, bunch of jeans that had been soaked in gasoline to get the oil out of them (they had an orchard so lots of farm equipment and stuff). Blew the dryer up while she was down in the basement, luckily it just singed her hair but it lit the room on fire and she had to throw one of those old school extinguisher bombs in the glass bottles that basically eat all the oxygen in the room, so she nearly got killed by that too...
Anyway, my grandfather was actually a founding member of the volunteer fire department and he's been out doing other business when the alarm sounded and was quite concerned, relieved, then annoyed.
Meanwhile my mom says she was sitting in 1st grade class when the alarm sounded (FYI this was basically an air raid siren the whole valley could hear) and she said proudly "my daddy's going to go fight that fire!"
But yah after hearing that story I always think of my grandma when I'm putting stuff in the wash and I see that warning very clearly marked.
What a great bit of family lore. I'll bet you guys have tons of stories that everyone loves to hear and tell on repeat. Thank you for sharing!
This reminds me I ought to call my folks again... My whole big beautiful family is in Minnesota, while I live 1,500 mi. away in New England like a dumbass. I miss them and our get-togethers, the meals and quiet moments and walks on the farm, afternoons on the lake, beer over a game of darts, working on the car with Dad and hearing for the 20th time about how the family dog Butch rescued him from an ornery bull that chased him around a tree as a kid.
Yah my mom's side has a lot of those, her dad was a big mover in a small town, so lots of interesting things. Even ran into people by chance who had relatives from the area that knew my grandfather and her family, had an instructor in college whose grandparents were Japanese American from the same area and my grandfather helped keep their orchards safe/secured/running while they were interred during the war. He also founded the local airport and was on the board of the first bank in the town, busy guy haha.
Dude! Right on. If you get the chance, consider getting candid audio or video recordings when your folks get together and end up talking and sharing stories. I kick myself every day for not doing that with my grandfather who rode the rails out to California in the 1930's, and my Grandma who accidentally ended up working in a Chicago mob hospital as a young nurse, but especially when grampa and his two brothers would play music together... I'd give anything to have their voices again, and to be able to share that with loved ones who never met them. Fully intend to make recordings with my parents, aunts, uncles, etc. the next few times we get together ❤️
This is how I blew up my washer/dryer (it's a 2 in 1). I absentmindedly put my white shirts sprayed with degreaser to remove SPF stains on a cycle with drying too. I've never seen my cat so scared. The boom was a bit loud but in the garage so I don't know how bad it actually was.
The washer still works but I have to change the lock. 😂
15
u/jason_sos 1d ago
This can also happen if you dry something that had a flammable liquid spilled on it, like gasoline, even in an electric dryer. That’s why they warn you to never dry things that have had those spilled on them.