We almost had a house fire on Saturday. I was in the living room watching TV and sleeping since I'm still not feeling well. I thought I smelled something odd, but no one else said anything so I figured it was just my sinuses being so messed up.
The dryer went off so I went in and folded the clothes and put the last load in the dryer. I thought the smell was even stronger in there but, since I wasn't feeling well, I didn't investigate.
About a half hour later the light next to my chair in the living room flashed bright and made a weird sound. At the same time I heard a pop coming from the kitchen area. I went out and looked around but didn't see anything. I went upstairs and DS#3 said that the surge protector on his computer had beeped. I could smell a really strong electrical smell in the upstairs hallway. I checked around upstairs and didn't find anything.
Back downstairs I went and finally found the problem in the downstairs bathroom. The outlet for the dryer was melted and there was black soot all over the wall around it! I tried to yell for DH, but since I have laryngitis that didn't work very well. He finally heard me and rushed in with a fire extinguisher. There was no fire, thank goodness, just that awful smell.
We have no idea why the outlet overheated. The outlet itself was really hot and so was the dryer plug, but not the cord. We think the dryer is probably okay. I hope so, it's only a year old.
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This is the reason that I never leave the house when the dryer is running!
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