Quick Thinking Prevents Disaster
There are many reasons to be grateful on Thanksgiving, but Hilton Head Island residents Howard and MJ Rankin have an extra reason this year. On Tuesday, Howard bravely dived into action to prevent a major disaster at their home.
“My wife has been telling me for several years that our dryer vents needed cleaning, but I never really took it seriously. It was just an example of the Spouse Communication Bias, the tendency to undervalue what your spouse tells you. I didn’t think it was necessary,” says Rankin, who appropriately is the author of the recently acclaimed book I Think Therefore I Am Wrong and the podcast How Not To Think.
However, when someone at the Assisted Living facility where his mother-in-law lived told Rankin about the real danger, he listened. After doing some research he discovered that blocked dryer vents are one of the leading causes of house fires.
A piece on the Building Performance Institute says:
“According to the National Fire Protection Association, nearly 17,000 home clothes dryer fires are reported each year. These clothes dryer fires cause around 51 deaths, 380 injuries, and $236 million in property loss. Unsurprisingly, the leading cause of these fires, at 34%, is the failure to clean dryer vents.”
https://www.bpihomeowner.org/blog/things-you-should-know-dryer-vents-can-be-fire-hazard
On Tuesday, Howard jumped dramatically into action. He quickly picked up the phone early in the morning and called Advent, a multi-state vent cleaning company that has offices in the Low Country, and arranged for the vents to be cleaned.
After Advent had cleaned the dryer vent, the Rankins were shown the evidence of a massively blocked dryer vent that even included remnants of a bird’s nest.
“We were very lucky. If I hadn’t acted so fast, we were looking at real trouble,” says Rankin.
His wife MJ agrees. “It only took him seven years, but better late then never.”
A blockage in the dryer vent not only increases the risk of fire, but decreases the efficiency and life of your dryer.
‘The service was great and I’m sure we will regain the modest outlay back in extended dryer life and reduced energy bills,” says Rankin. “I’m just thankful I acted so quickly.”
For more information:
Advent Duct Cleaning LLC
Phone: (888) 280-8368
Email: AdventDuct@aol.com
Web: www.adventductcleaning.com
I Think Therefore I Am Wrong
Now available on Amazon for as little as a box of dryer sheets: Just $5.99!
The How Not To Think podcast is available on Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google and Buzzsprout. Here’s the Apple link to the first episode on nutrition. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-not-to-think-about-nutrition/id1488982079?i=1000457600082