By Barry Stone
Dear Barry,
In a past article, you mentioned that the Plumbing Code requires a water heater in a garage to be placed on a raised platform. The stated purpose of this requirement is to prevent ignition of gasoline fumes on the garage floor. If we apply the same logic to a clothes dryer in a garage, why is it not also necessary to have a raised platform at the laundry? - Jack
Dear Jack,
You raise a valid point. The same reasoning that requires the elevation of a water heater in a garage would seem to apply to the pilot light and burner in a clothes dryer. Yet, this consideration has never been addressed in the code. This may be due to a simple oversight or the fact that raising a clothes dryer poses some obvious impracticalities. Picture, if you will, a matched washer and dryer set with the dryer installed 18 inches higher than its mate. And imagine the inconvenience of reaching for the elevated control knobs or of removing and cleaning the raised filter.
It may be that garage fires involving clothes dryers have not occurred with sufficient frequency to induce a change in the building code. On the other hand, it should be remembered that the code is defined as a minimum standard and does not cover all conditions and eventualities.
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