A woman said she was 'lucky to be alive' after a laundry hack set her machine on fire in a viral TikTok video

• A woman said on TikTok that a dryer sheet replacement hack led to her machine catching on fire.
• The hack involves replacing dryer sheets with sponges soaked in fabric softener solution.
• Experts have cautioned against similar hacks in the past, saying they could damage clothes.

A woman said in a viral TikTok video that a laundry hack for replacing dryer sheets with fabric softener-soaked sponges led to her drying machine catching on fire, saying that she and her family were "really lucky to be alive."

The hack, which has circulated online for years and did not originate on TikTok, involves soaking sponges in a mixture of fabric softener and water and using one in lieu of a standard dryer sheet when running a tumble dry cycle, according to PopSugar circa 2014. The trick has been shared on family blogs, media outlets, and influencers on platforms like TikTok.

Cleaning TikToker @haileeclarke87, whose name appears to be Hailee Clarke, cautioned her 20,000 followers and other viewers against trying the hack in a TikTok video that's amassed over 1 million views since it was posted on Monday.

The user showed a container full of sponges soaking in fabric softener and water before cutting to a shot of a burnt laundry machine and piles of ruined garments. She says in the video that she had never had any problems with her tumble drying machine, but woke up to a home filled with smoke the morning after she used the laundry hack.

"The dryer had been smoking, was on fire on the inside through the night," Clarke said in the video. "I'm not really sure what happened, but it was absolutely terrifying. We're really lucky to be alive, and I just wanted to spread some awareness that, just be careful of the hacks that you try."

It was not immediately clear why the trend resulted in this, but liquid fabric softeners do typically bear warnings that they may increase the flammability of certain fabrics, cautioning against use on children's sleepwear, flame-resistant clothes, and fluffier fabrics.

A spokesperson for the American Cleaning Institute told Insitute that it was "unaware of any reports about such incidents occurring," but that "we strongly advise only using appliances and laundry additives as intended and directed per the manufacturers' instructions."

A Facebook account that appears to belong to Clarke posted about the dryer being on fire on Monday, warning people to "be careful what you buy on market place," possibly referencing Facebook's commerce hub where people can resell items, and saying in a comment that she "definitely will not be getting any other electricals from now on" from the marketplace.

Cleaning experts and other TikTok cleaning influencers have cautioned against similar fabric softener-based hacks in the past. Bailey Carson, the head of cleaning for household services app Handy, told Insider in January that a version of the hack using a rag instead of a sponge could cause damage to clothes, leaving residue spots during the drying process and potentially lifting dye from garments. Carson also told Insider that fabric softener can irritate skin conditions such as eczema.

Insider could not immediately reach the video creator for comment on TikTok and a Facebook account that appeared to belong to her did not immediately respond.

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