About 7,000 house fires a year begin in the dryer and most are ignited by lint. To prevent such fires, which result in 200 injuries and 10 deaths annually, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is recommending that all dryers be equipped with indicator lights that tell the homeowner when maintenance is required, according to a draft report. If such lights work for cars, they may work in the laundry room too.

The trouble with lint is that while many people clean their lint filters, the fuzz and random bits of fabric also collect in the dryer cabinet and exhaust ducts where the homeowner doesn’t see it. Once the lint accumulates it can spark a fire. Seeking a solution, the CPSC took a look at 137 dryer fires from 2006 to 2010 that occurred in dryers of different ages. The incidents ranged from complete destruction of the house or structure to a few sparks coming from a dryer.

One common thread in the accounts was that the owner noticed the dryer had stopped drying efficiently—a common sign of lint buildup. In one case, lint between the drum and cabinet, near the burner, caught on fire, causing smoke alarms in the home to go off. There was no lint in the ducts but the owner found 3-4 inches of charred lint in the bottom of the cabinet. Two weeks after the dryer was repaired, it happened again. In another typical scenario, flames were coming out of the dryer’s blower housing. That too was caused by lint buildup.

The CPSC is investigating two types of lights. The first would be triggered after a certain number of laundry loads—the typical family does six a week. The other would be an “abnormal operations” indicator perhaps linked to the dryer’s thermostat. Either way, the CPSC concludes, using indicators to tell the consumer that maintenance and service are required can potentially reduce the number of fire-related incidents involving dryers.

In Consumer Reports tests of dryers we looked at such brands as LG, Samsung, Kenmore, Whirlpool, Maytag and Bosch that have introduced models with built-in sensors to detect reduced airflow or overheating. So far the results from these systems have been too inconsistent to count on. We did find one add-on device, the $40 LintAlert, which worked better at detecting blockages.