30 November 2011

Does A Dryer Disinfect?

Does A Dryer Disinfect?  Is a question you may have or may not have thought of.  It was on my mind after a bout of the common cold in my home a few weeks ago.  Once everyone was back to their old selves I went around the house and changed the sheets, and toothbrushes.  I gave everything a thorough cleaning all around the home, and then moved onto an extra step.  As a habit I like to put comforters, pillows, feather beds, etc through a cycle on hot in the dryer.  But is this act really getting rid of any germs?

I quickly found through some research that bed bugs can be killed in a dryer cycle of at least 5 minutes.  I am happy to say that I have never had a bed bug problem, but what about dust mites?  They are in most homes if we know it or not, and pillows are one of their favorite places to hide out.  Looks like the answer is yes, but with a 10 minute recommended cycle.  I like to be cautious so I usually run my pillows and other fluffy goods for a full 30 minute dryer cycle on the hottest setting.

The dryer seems to be great for creepy crawly creatures which is a bonus, but what about cold and flu germs?  According to Dr. Laundry the results are mixed.  The dryer cycle killed some germs like e. coli, but not others were just reduced, not completely killed.  Something is better then nothing so I think I will keep up with my habit, and hope for the best during this years cold and flu season.





8 comments:

  1. I like to think that dryers kill germs too and glad to know that it at least kills some.

    Following you back as well!

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  2. Thanks for stopping by!
    Following you back.

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  3. That's good to know! I think I'll start running our bedding and blankets through the dryer more often :)

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  4. Thanks everyone for stopping by. Another bonus to running bedding through the dryer is that is makes everything nice and fluffy! Everything I have is feathers so it makes a big difference in the comfort department.

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  5. Thanks for sharing.

    I'm stopping by from the Mingle with us hop and following by gfc and facebook. I'd love if you'd stop by my blog too. Have a great day!

    Lisa @

    http://frugalmommieof2.blogspot.com/

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  7. Well, you started the post with extremely a super important question which is really needed to keep in our thoughts as germs can cause our health in risk. Perhaps most of us are not aware of the harmful germs and even not in our mind whether a dryer can help to kill unwanted hidden enemies. I am rarely excited but getting some wonderful info like killing bed bug, creepy crawly creatures or even flu germs. This was really a handy read surely. By the way for dryer repair service capitalappliancerepair.ca can be a good and reliable discovery in the respected area.

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