Daily Question is excerpted from the JustAnswer archives and features information provided from an expert on JustAnswer.
Q: Is it true that dryers can “eat” socks? I own a Whirlpool Duet washer/dryer, and over the course of two years I have about 20 socks that no longer have partners. Is there something I can pull off where they may be stuck?
Searching for a missing sock.
(Photo: Flickr/Simon James)
A: It’s really unlikely that a dryer would eat socks. But if this dryer did eat your socks or make them disappear, they would end up at the bottom of the lint filter housing. If you remove the filter and look down the filter enclosure, you would see the socks, if there are any.
It’s actually more likely that the washer would hide your socks than the dryer. If you open the door and pull the bottom of the door gasket forward away from the tub, sometimes socks will get trapped between the rubber gasket folds at the bottom of the gasket.
– Answer provided by Tyler M., appliance technician and expert on JustAnswer.
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Daily Question is excerpted from the JustAnswer archives and features information provided from an expert on JustAnswer.
Q: How do I remove soot from my stone chimney and fireplace? I tried soap and water without much success.
(Photo: Flickr/Jo Bourne)
A: Using water is not recommended. Once mixed with water soot becomes harder to remove, as it turns into a tar-like material. The proper way to do it is to use dry methods.
You first brush it lightly with a vacuum machine to pick it up (if possible with the exhaust outdoor to make sure smaller particles don’t become airborne in the house). You then use a soot sponge (usually available in hardware stores) to remove what remains.
You can still probably remove a lot that way even after using water. But water probably caused a stain, and you may have to use abrasive to clean it now. This is not a problem if the stone was rough, but it may damage polished stone and require a new varnish sealing if one was present. A good soft and cheap abrasive is sugar, bit it may not be enough if the water glued too much on the stone. A sand blast machine may work well.
To have less abrasive option it’s possible to use walnut shell powder as an alternative — it does a good job. Any cleaning may change the color compared to the untreated area, so you may have to consider treating the whole area.
– Answer from Martin Caron, an expert on JustAnswer.
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