Michael Panis
04-23-2008, 11:57 AM
One of the downsides of a basement shop is that playing in the basement often requires me to do laundry, which is also located in the basement.
Last night, I was sanding some shellaced boards using odorless Mineral spirits as a lubricant. I took a break to take clothes out of the dryer. As soon as I opened the dryer door, I noticed a kerosene smell. All the clothes smelled of kerosene.
After a little research on the web, I discovered this is a common problem. Clothes dryers suck in an awful lot of air from the house which they then heat up. Apparently, my dryer sucked the air with the mineral spirits into the dryer. Even though the mineral spirits are pretty odorless in normal conditions, after the dryer heats them up, they smell like kerosene.
Anyway, I thought it was really interesting that this isn't a matter of putting rags with mineral spirits into the dryer. I just had to be using mineral spirits somewhere in the house.
Who'd have thunk?
Consider yourselves warned !
Last night, I was sanding some shellaced boards using odorless Mineral spirits as a lubricant. I took a break to take clothes out of the dryer. As soon as I opened the dryer door, I noticed a kerosene smell. All the clothes smelled of kerosene.
After a little research on the web, I discovered this is a common problem. Clothes dryers suck in an awful lot of air from the house which they then heat up. Apparently, my dryer sucked the air with the mineral spirits into the dryer. Even though the mineral spirits are pretty odorless in normal conditions, after the dryer heats them up, they smell like kerosene.
Anyway, I thought it was really interesting that this isn't a matter of putting rags with mineral spirits into the dryer. I just had to be using mineral spirits somewhere in the house.
Who'd have thunk?
Consider yourselves warned !