Handymen: Clothes Dryer Lint Maintenance Tip

[Paperdoc]

In the course of doing some repairs inside my clothes dryer I stumbled across something I should have known. At the back of the dryer is the port for hot air to exit, connected to a vent hose that goes outside. In my case I put a 90-degree 4" duct elbow right there, then a flex hose up to the vent pipe through the wall. Now, I'm used to cleaning lint out of the vent pipe a couple times a year. But while inside the dryer I disconnected the venting ductwork just where the elbow is mounted, and found it more than half blocked with a hard pack of lint. In retrospect I certainly should have known that a right-angle turn is a likely trouble spot for accumulation of lint, but I just never thought to check for it. From now on I will. If you haven't, check you own - blockage anywhere in the vent will slow your drying and cost you money!

 

[waggy]

yeap. you should clean out the vent pipe once a year.

my vent pipe is maybe 1-1.5 ft longi can yank it out of the wall and clean it. though last time i did it i broke it. i just duct taped it and put it back. i been to lazy to go buy another one heh.


also save the lint. if you do a lot of burning (garbage, leaves or outside fire pits) the lint is great way to get stuff started. it goes up fast. WE burn a lot of box's and whatever falls off the trees (we have a weeping willow. i hate the tree..its so damn messy) and a few handfulls of lint and it gets everything going.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Noted. :thumbsup: I'll have my wife add this to my yearly maintenance plan.

I did have to clean a birds nest out of the exterior vent earlier this spring. One of the covers had fallen off and they sneaked in.

 

[skyking]

When you drag the dryer out to do that, consider removing the front or back panel (whichever one is easy to remove for belt maintenance) and vacuuming the inside of the dryer housing. Lint gets around seals and builds up where it should not, and is a cause of fires. You probably only need to do that every other time but it is worth a look to see.

 

[akshatp]

Speaking of lint, the apartment we just moved into has a w/d unit included. Before doing our first load of drying, I did what I usually do, and empty the lint fliter. HOLY CRAP. I could have knit 10 sweaters with all the lint that had accumulated. I dont think the previous tenants had EVER emptied the thing. Not only that, the screen BEHIND where the lint filter goes was JAMMED with lint also, which I vacuumed out.

I would presume the exhaust pipe has so much in there too, but I cant move the unit out under the terms of my lease. Maybe I should call maintenance to have them look at it.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I discovered something similar while cleaning out the lint in our dryer. We clean the lint trap religiously while using the dry but one day I decided to remove the lint trap and its housing and reach my arm down into the front of the dryer. There was a HUGE pile of lint that had collected over time. Now I clean that out ever few months.

 

[JasonSix78]

Nice tip, need to check mine. Thanks for the reminder. Reps on recharge.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

You should also make a duct going from your attic to the back of the dryer. This way you're pulling hot air out of the attic in the summer. You can use a lower heat setting on the dryer, saving money, and you're not heating up cooler air from the house.

In the winter, just cut off the duct and go back to using house air.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
You should also make a duct going from your attic to the back of the dryer. This way you're pulling hot air out of the attic in the summer. You can use a lower heat setting on the dryer, saving money, and you're not heating up cooler air from the house.

In the winter, just cut off the duct and go back to using house air.

No!

How many rules of common sense does that advice violate?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
You should also make a duct going from your attic to the back of the dryer. This way you're pulling hot air out of the attic in the summer. You can use a lower heat setting on the dryer, saving money, and you're not heating up cooler air from the house.

In the winter, just cut off the duct and go back to using house air.

that just does not sound like a good idea..

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
You should also make a duct going from your attic to the back of the dryer. This way you're pulling hot air out of the attic in the summer. You can use a lower heat setting on the dryer, saving money, and you're not heating up cooler air from the house.

In the winter, just cut off the duct and go back to using house air.

that just does not sound like a good idea..

I don't think he means to vent the dryer into the attic, rather to pull the air OUT of the attic and put it into the dryer, then out the normal vent.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
You should also make a duct going from your attic to the back of the dryer. This way you're pulling hot air out of the attic in the summer. You can use a lower heat setting on the dryer, saving money, and you're not heating up cooler air from the house.

In the winter, just cut off the duct and go back to using house air.

that just does not sound like a good idea..

I don't think he means to vent the dryer into the attic, rather to pull the air OUT of the attic and put it into the dryer, then out the normal vent.

Yeah that is how I'm seeing it too. The dryer needs replacement air, if you are airconditioning you get to pay twice. Once to cool the air down and again to heat it up.

 

[BoomerD]

There are also long brushes made for cleaning the compartment under the lint trap. You'd be surprised at how much lint accumulates down there. (You'd have to take the dryer apart, then the exhaust system apart to get to this area.)

IIRC, they're about $5 at places like Lowes.

We've known a couple of families who lost their houses when the dryer overheated and caused a fire. We do NOT run the dryer at night when everyone is asleep...or if we're not at home.