I didn’t know this - saw it posted today in a group of mine. Checked it out at snopes.com and apparently it’s true.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/dryer.asp

I had a wonderful morning, the heating unit went out on my dryer!
Why does everything seem to fall apart this time of year!???
The guy that fixes things went in to the dryer
pulled out the lint filter.
It was clean. We always clean the lint from the
filter after every load of clothes.
He told us that he wanted to show us something.
He took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water
over it.
Now, the lint filter is made of a mesh material -
I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like.
WELL……the hot water just sat on top of the
mesh!!! It didn’t go through it at all!!!
He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over
that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there.
This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire
potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very Long time (& to keep your electric bill
lower) is to take that filter out &
wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush
(or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least
twice as long!
How about that???!!!! Learn something new everyday!
I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do
that. So, I thought I’d share!

Thought that maybe someone else may find it interesting…