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Also, I would call lint removal in dryers a safety critical activity... Learn how to do it, and do it as the manual says. Why? There is this book title in Sweden, "Anyone who doesn't remove the lint shall die". A coupla years back, someone omitted it in the shared laundry room in the neighborhood...

And then learning its a video not something you can download to keep, and requires watching 10 minutes of marketing how great it is to find if they say what button does what!

Manualslib dot com

I used to write manuals that nobody read. Sigh.

Related: I work in a library and my knee-jerk solution is put a sign up! Then people will know the relevant information! Dear Reader. My sweet, sweet summer child. Please know that people do not- or cannot- read signs.

With this modern trend of "computerize everything" often manuals seem to be not updated as often as the UIs and software leading to more confusing situations it seems

No, I do not typically get feedback from users. I can apply technical communication and information design principles until the cows come home, but the only metric that really counts is user success.

Good design is invisible, as they say! A thankless but really, really important job

Yup, this. I didn’t learn about the lint trap until a laundromat worker told me as a 19-year-old doing laundry at a laundromat for the first time!

Odd to think that rental houses come with driers and other appliances included in the rent in other countries.

My dad dumpster dived for them while the house was under construction...in spite of saying they wanted all of them. The gas appliance company put in our fireplace remote argued they COULDN'T give me the manual "because DIY gas safety liability"...so I can't DIY set the clock with new AA batteries?

The manual for the furnace when we bought the house was with the furnace. In the attic. Where we couldn't find it. So, sometimes, even when the manual is available, it's not available.

Some do with QR codes. Except then the link changes, product is discontinued, or company goes away and poof no more manuals. I had this with a 5 year old portable generator...the manual online is the "newer version" that is totally different for the newer generator hardware revision, mine is gone.

Also some people really struggle with written directions in manuals. Like dyslexia is real.

Hit this QR code to go to a wide shot of one of our employees mumbling about this product at a camcorder microphone in a room with loudly buzzing overhead fluorescent lights.

if you show me a person who can muster the will to read the manual for the dishwasher they just spent two hours installing because the old one died and they have to get everything washed before dinner, I'll show you a god who walks among us

Replaced all mine with the new standards devices.

Common sense relies on shared experience, but we're not all the same person with the same experiences. We all have blind spots.

Ours reached the end of its lifetime about a month ago and notified us with a continual signal. Bought a new one!!

Very true! And a person doesn’t know what they don’t know.

ignore him honey, you're doin great

Of course there is. But my cousin lost his pets (a dog and a kitten) due to CO poisoning and my friend’s grandma’s house burned down because of her dryer. I try to learn from my mistakes as well as others.

Thanks CPSC! What are you thoughts on combined smoke/carbon monoxide detectors? Don’t those things do best in two separate locations? (Smoke up high/CO down low?)

Thanks for the reminder!

This is such a good reminder. Our old rental had one - only after we had an Incident where one would have been useful. Now I can't remember if we got one when we moved here and when we last checked it, if so. TY for this.

So.. you want me to go push a big red button?! Say no more.

It's ok, go help people.

What are you a narc

It's pretty funny, but also sad, how many commenters are judging while also assuming the article is about the front, easy-to-reach lint screen.

Great point. Kind of crazy to look down on someone for not automatically knowing everything that we all may have learned over time, especially younger folks who may have grown up without a responsible involved parent to teach them - thank you for educating and working to keep EVERYONE safe!

I have one on each floor of my house and one in the basement because of you! And I check them a couple of times per year. (I do need to check my dryer exhaust vent, though.)