Dryer Vent danger

[Oss]

The gas dryer was taking a LONG time to dry clothes so I went to Lowes and bought 2 of those expanding flex 8 foot lengths of duct and the heat tape and took the exhaust pipe off the dryer

Holy crap

Should have done this earlier  OVER A POUND of lint, the thing was almost fully clogged  Stuck my hand then a yardstick then blew the thing out with the leaf blower

Then a rag tied to the yardstick  Replaced the entire line of duct which is around 14 feet

It is one of those things you forget about when you clean the lint filter but it will now be something I check every year.  I can not remember ever checking it all these years (38 in this house)


and yes we clean the lint filter every load

[Bret SD]

The gas dryer was taking a LONG time to dry clothes so I went to Lowes and bought 2 of those expanding flex 8 foot lengths of duct and the heat tape and took the exhaust pipe off the dryer

Holy crap

Should have done this earlier  OVER A POUND of lint, the thing was almost fully clogged  Stuck my hand then a yardstick then blew the thing out with the leaf blower

Then a rag tied to the yardstick  Replaced the entire line of duct which is around 14 feet

It is one of those things you forget about when you clean the lint filter but it will now be something I check every year.  I can not remember ever checking it all these years (38 in this house)

Evan, dryer lint burnt my friend's houses down, 2 different incidents.. 2 different people.
Take the metal body off the dryer and you'll find a lot more lint in the dryer box, vacuum it all away... and you're right, check the thing annually.

[Patrick]

Yep, every year. I use solid tube except for a short section of flex at the wall end. Its surprising what you find in there. Rats, mice etc.

[cookiedough]

yah, good idea to do it more often, also depends on how much use out of dryer.  WE only use the dryer 2x's per week for 2 loads of laundry.    I have only cleaned out the dryer vent 2x's past 25 years and both times surprisingly not much to clean out at all was shocked.   I really though should buy better tubing vs. the cheapo white tubing with wire inside but only goes about 8 feet tops to the side of the house.  I think longer tubing and more bend in it will cause a lot more lint buildup over time.

What should be done though EVERY single time or at least every other time is remove/clean the lint screen on top of dryer which we do weekly.   Also a GREAT reminder, like I do often, to go outside the vent alongside house and open up the flip top flaps and go in with your fingers and clean out the lint around the outside edges of the tubing.  Lint likes to collect in there as well and often the top flap stays shut if not remove the lint around the edges to easily open up the top flap.

[da prez]

  Flex tubing should N E V E R  be used as a drier vent. Metal vent and no screws. Tape the joints. Make the runs as straight as possible.  Figure a cleaning schedule. Mark the calendar .  Just like draining the water heaters.  A few minutes every couple months and most problems gone.  There is usually a drain filter in the bottom of the washer that has easy access from the front. The washer will slow down on the cycles for an unknown reason and it happens over time.

                                    da prez   

[Hook#3287]

  Flex tubing should N E V E R  be used as a drier vent. Metal vent and no screws. Tape the joints. Make the runs as straight as possible.  Figure a cleaning schedule. Mark the calendar .  Just like draining the water heaters.  A few minutes every couple months and most problems gone.  There is usually a drain filter in the bottom of the washer that has easy access from the front. The washer will slow down on the cycles for an unknown reason and it happens over time.

                                    da prez   

Dryer exhaust venting is required to be solid in most states by building code.  Screws can only protrude 1/8 inch.

It's one of the most frequent violations in new residential construction I see.

Contractors have had to rip down ceilings to fix, cause they "didn't know"

[f6john]

My wife cleans the dryer vent every time she uses the dryer but it is still surprising how much gets by. Fortunately, our vent has access from the basement and a fairly straight shot. Builder used 4” pvc pipe and I had to clean it out once already, probably because the fist owners never touched it in the first 20 years. I bought a kit at Lowe’s that has a couple of brushes and fiberglass connecting rods to run through the line. A lot of the old stuff was really stuck to the walls of the pipe.

[Wizzard]

My wife cleans the dryer vent every time she uses the dryer but it is still surprising how much gets by. Fortunately, our vent has access from the basement and a fairly straight shot. Builder used 4” pvc pipe and I had to clean it out once already, probably because the fist owners never touched it in the first 20 years. I bought a kit at Lowe’s that has a couple of brushes and fiberglass connecting rods to run through the line. A lot of the old stuff was really stuck to the walls of the pipe.

Same here, I got the same kit and it works great

[0leman]

This summer I finally got around to cleaning ours.  Should have done it a lot earlier, like 11 years ago.  Got a brush kit online that had 28 feet of extensions.   We have some 25 ft of pipe under the house, so needed most of them.   We have two shopvacs, put one on the dryer end blowing, one sucking out side.  After pulling off the outside vent door, started pushing the rod in.  Got in about 6' when pipe came apart.  Really hate crawling under the house.  Went under with duck tape and retaped all the joints, they were 3' sections.   Then back out again to start the brush.   Needless to say should have done it before as got maybe 6-8 lbs of lint.   Lessen learned. 

Did go on line to research this process before I started, lots of different ways to keep your vent pipe clean.  One guy would several times a year take a leaf blower to his.   I will be using the $20 tool a lot more often.

[carolinarider09]

I have not cleaned mine in several years.  Based on this I will have to put it on my to-do list.

However, I did try and use the "solid" pipe and not flex hose for as much of the vent going outside as possible.

It seemed to me that the "corrugated" aspects of that pipe would make it easy for the lint to attach itself to the pipe.

But, in my system, I have noted that the stuff sticks pretty well to the solid pipe also, just not as much accumulates.  The stuff is very, very sticky.

[TTG53#1717]

We have an 18 foot long horizontal section running through the inside garage wall to the outside vent.
 I didn’t like that all that much so I made a catch box out of a US Mail box so I could stop most of the lint from getting into the wall tube. Intake on the bottom with output on the opposite top.
A chicken wire screen sits In between. It works well and only needs attention every three months.

[Jess from VA]

That's a very neat idea, and funny.   

The majority of the mail that comes to my mailbox on the street is just as useful (and interesting) as dryer lint.

Keeping my dryer lint catcher clean right at the dryer all the time, my vent stays pretty clean.  It jumps straight up from the dryer about six feet and goes straight out the wall to outdoors (solid tube).

It helps that this bachelor household only averages one or two loads of laundry a month. 

My current dryer came with me from the Air Force in 1992 (and was 5 years old then), and is the oldest appliance in the house (by far).  Having said that out loud, I expect it will explode any day now. 

[98valk]

We have an 18 foot long horizontal section running through the inside garage wall to the outside vent.
 I didn’t like that all that much so I made a catch box out of a US Mail box so I could stop most of the lint from getting into the wall tube. Intake on the bottom with output on the opposite top.
A chicken wire screen sits In between. It works well and only needs attention every three months.

 

[Hook#3287]

We have an 18 foot long horizontal section running through the inside garage wall to the outside vent.
 I didn’t like that all that much so I made a catch box out of a US Mail box so I could stop most of the lint from getting into the wall tube. Intake on the bottom with output on the opposite top.
A chicken wire screen sits In between. It works well and only needs attention every three months.

Thats pretty ingenious! Unfortunately it would not pass a official inspection because it's not an "accepted system " and it requires extra maintenance.

It's cool though 

[Hook#3287]

That's a very neat idea, and funny.   

The majority of the mail that comes to my mailbox on the street is just as useful (and interesting) as dryer lint.

Keeping my dryer lint catcher clean right at the dryer all the time, my vent stays pretty clean.  It jumps straight up from the dryer about six feet and goes straight out the wall to outdoors (solid tube).

It helps that this bachelor household only averages one or two loads of laundry a month. 

My current dryer came with me from the Air Force in 1992 (and was 5 years old then), and is the oldest appliance in the house (by far).  Having said that out loud, I expect it will explode any day now. 

I'm not bragging (cause I'd jinx myself) but my dryer is over 33 years old.  I've replaced a idler and a belt and she's lasted out 3 washers.

[Patrick]

We have an 18 foot long horizontal section running through the inside garage wall to the outside vent.
 I didn’t like that all that much so I made a catch box out of a US Mail box so I could stop most of the lint from getting into the wall tube. Intake on the bottom with output on the opposite top.
A chicken wire screen sits In between. It works well and only needs attention every three months.

Ahahahahha !  Thats pretty slick !