Why Does Hair Dryer Smell Like Burning? This Is How To Fix It At Home!
A hair dryer is an indispensable item in every family as well as personal life, most essential for the hair salon.
In addition to drying your hair, you can also use a hair dryer to easily style your hair: retwist dreads, retwist starter locs, do peekaboo hair, etc.
However, we sometimes face some of its potential problems as well.
A common problem many people experience with the dryer while using it is a bad smell.
It’s a scent you never want to smell from any electrical device, you should get to know the root of that problem and how to deal with it immediately.
What to do if your dryer smells like it’s burning?
The air intake area in a hairdryer can be easily clogged with human hair and lint. As the debris gets sucked in and heats up, it will emit a smell like burning every time you blow your hair dry.
Solution
You can use an old toothbrush to clean the air intake or lint you find.
Next, remove the screws that hold the body together and brush clean or pluck any hair wound around the heater coil.
Prevention
You should periodically clean the hairdryer and keep the inside of it clean to prevent burning smells, prolong its life, and keep it running powerfully and smoothly.
Can a hairdryer catch on fire?
“Anything that has a heating element,” says TFD captain Andy Skaggs, can become a potential danger.
Even candles can burn and cause burning at extreme temperatures. That means when your dryer is in a state of overheating and still has to operate, there is still a possibility of fire.
Especially, when unattended, it blows too much which can cause a dangerous fire.
What do you do if your dryer catches on fire?
When the dryer overheats, be sure to anticipate the worst scenario where it could cause a fire as we mentioned above.
So if you, unfortunately, encounter this situation, how quickly should you handle it to minimize the loss of life and property? Here’s what to do in this bad situation.
- Keep the dryer door closed.
- Turn off and unplug the dryer if possible.
- Call Your Local Fire Department at Once right away.
- Evacuate your home if the fire persists.
What happens when a hairdryer overheats?
When your dryer becomes overheating, it means it will not be able to operate in the normal way. Overheating can lead to a lot of problems in your life.
Specifically, a status will appear that the machine automatically shuts off after using a hairdryer for more than 7-10 minutes.
When this happens, you must unplug the device immediately and let it cool down, preferably in a cool environment for 2-3 minutes.
How do you know if your dryer is overheating?
The hallmark of a dryer too hot is simple. Similar to other electrical devices, you can know that it is overheating only through the heat that they radiate to the outside.
After a long period of use, lint accumulates in the dryer’s vent and can cause the dryer to overheat.
To make sure your device is in this state you can check through a few signs such as:
- The dryer outside is very hot
- There is a burning smell when you run the dryer.
- The process of drying suddenly takes longer.
- There is lint coming out from the outside vent opening.
- You haven’t cleaned the dryer vents for a year.
Why does my hairdryer keep overheating?
After a while of using a hairdryer, you will notice it tends to get hot quickly and overheat. So where is the cause?
You may not have realized that during the daily drying process and lint can build up over the grate on the back of the dryer and block airflow.
Besides, when you cleaned the grate, many things such as paper towels or cotton swabs were likely left behind.
These can be the cause of the dryer being clogged, resulting in overheating and a shorter lifespan.
Conclusion
In short, there are many causes of your dryer to smell strange or overheat, possibly due to poor equipment quality or years of operation.
Smell like burning as well as the heat emanating from the device are simple signs for you to notice the malaise of your dryer.
So to avoid the dryer from exploding or causing a fire, you should get the help of the technician in time or buy a new one from reputable brands.
Aida
