What the heck is this secret compartment in my tumble dryer

[toomuchlikemyusername]

I've always thought I was being a sensible grown up by diligently emptying the door filter of my tumble dryer on a regular basis and removing all the fluff so it was good and safe and all that...go me!

Today, with some lockdown time on my hands I was giving it a spring clean and pondered what the flap at the bottom of the dryer was hiding.

I opened it up to discover another large filter which could be slid out. It was covered in a layer of damp, dusty grot with added slime around the seal for good measure

It's now had a good clean out. I've discovered £1.01, a zip attachment and a false finger nail (thanks Dd).

I've also spotted a neat little diagram that tells me I should have been cleaning this out once a month.

I now feel a bit that it's taken me about 3 years to find this grot spot. (But I did enjoy the manky mess). Am I the only person who didn't know about these secret places in tumble dryers. I am agog!

Once it is all clear your drying times will significantly improve. Save you energy so worth doing frequently but it is a faff.

I only discovered this filter on mine when the sensor that switches it off when the clothes are dry stopped working. A bit of googling pointed to the problem being that this filter was clogged. It was disgusting. But cleaning it fixed the problem.

I can’t believe I have never thought of using the shower to clean this.

How dumb and that is despite me using the hose in the summer. I’ve been fannying around for years trying to get it under the kitchen tap in the winter months

Mine is the same ,it doesnt have a light but I know it needs doing it takes so long to dry otherwise! Didnt you look at the booklet!?(glad Im not the only one TBH!) On the serious side ,do make sure its cleared out once a month or so as there have been fires caused by build up of dust and so on.

Huh I've just been to look at my tumble dryer.

There's a door filter, but the filter underneath doesn't appear to come out. The diagram just shows hoovering it...

I am always astounded at how much fluff gets caught in the door filter. I used a washer dryer for 6 years and there was no way to clean out a filter and I didn't realise how much fluff there is. It broke down once and the repair guy said yeah the filter is full of fluff, but didn't show the person who was there (ahem, not me!) how to do it in future.

Still using same machinie for washing but not for drying.

My repairman told me to wash mine out as it had damp fluff in it which was tripping the electrics. I give it a good 24 hours in the airing cupboard before putting it back in

@dottiedodah
Booklet? Well of course I did didn't . That'll teach me!
I didn't even read the sticker on it properly as looking at that more closely now it is in fact indicating that there is something under the flap. You can lead a horse to water and all that...

Mine lets me know it needs cleaning by leaking all over the floor.
How often should it be cleaned, does anyone know?

To be fair, yours will probably need a Karcher on it OP

You didn’t RTFI.

I am usually the one barking 'don't even think of touching it until you've read the instructions!' whenever a new appliance or gadget comes into the house.
This can just be our secret ok?

Yep, I do mine with the garden hose too. I also have a sponge filter panel on mine, I think it’s a Beko. I vacuum the fluff off the sponge and hose out the condenser every month or so.

Another thing that might blow minds this windy day.

In my destruction booklet it tells you to regularly wipe the sensor over with vinegar I think to keep it clean and working.

I've always done mine outside on a sunny day using the garden hose pipe.

Steady on now Thighmageddon I've been blissfully teetering on the verge of 'not quite burning the house down' and you come along with all this talk of cleaning sensors with vinegar. There's only so much I can take in one day!

I hadn't actually considered either that it being full would affect the dryer.... The dryer has definitely been running for longer recently in a worrying way. Clearly I need to go take a look rather than leaving it until the machine stops working completely....

Eeeew you slatterns. I bet you don’t clean your fridge filter either do you.

Fluffy the fridge has a filter you say? Now stop being silly!

(Does poking a cotton bud in the drain hole at the back count?)

In my defence, and before any one asks, I do clean the dishwasher arms and filters and my washing machine drawer is spotless

I line mine with one of those dryer sheets, then just pull it off and dispose of it once a month. I started doing it because I just couldn't get the bugger clean - now I know about the shower trick I might do that instead.

How the hell does one clean out a fridge filter when its a built in fridge? I can't for the life of me figure out how to get at it.

I’ve got a built in fridge. Take your kick board off (prime storage space under there by the way, I’ve got about 20 soya milk containers and a pack of digestives under mine) and under your fridge is a plastic tray that slides out.

It’s in the instruction manual.

I think this is only for condensing dryers. Mine doesn't have one

@Thighmageddon. Yes 😁👏

Like others on this thread, my bossy tumble dryer tells me to clean the filter periodically. However, the really thrilling discovery was a little flap right at the back underneath where the condenser slots back in. If you lift that flap up and have a feel around, there is a whole other world of soggy sludgy fluff that is waiting to be discovered. My dryer was regularly cutting out with still damp washing, but once I’d cleaned under the flap, it was a whole lot better!

Now I have to hold my hand up to using my dryer only a handful of times a year.......now thats a good idea as I did not erm, know what that thing was at the bottom as there was no buttons/lights warning that anything other than the filter on the door....but thanks to this post I have found the filter thingy at the bottom and got it open (who knew what that blue button was for inside the door)..........filter a bit yuk but not to bad for dare I say it ...... 15 years, shocking (runs away in shame)