Dryer Fires: Improving Clothes Dryer Safety

Authors

Kyle David Bonaccorso, Mariah Genevieve Eldredge, Scott F. Gould, Cameron Scott Mills

Sponsor

United States Consumer Product Safety Commission

Advisors

Creighton R. Peet, Marsha W. Rolle

Term

October – December 2012

Project Outcomes

Final Report

Abstract

Electric clothes dryers are responsible for approximately 4600 fire incidents annually. This project with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission targeted reducing the number of clothes dryer fire incidents by amending the voluntary safety standard, UL 2158, Electric Clothes Dryers. We identified the major contributing factors to electric clothes dryer fires, primarily through archival research and interviews, and designed a new performance test to be added to UL 2158 to address one of the major causes of such fires.