check your dryer duct periodically!

Joined
Mar 3, 2016
Messages
989
Location
Cincinnati, OH and Port Charlotte, FL
Recently bought a house in FL, washer and dryer in the garage. The dryer took FOREVER to dry loads, towels would take close to 2 hours. I figured before I bought a new dryer I'd check the duct. White vinyl/plasticy duct material wadded up behind the dryer, half full of lint. Cleaned that out, cleaned out the dryer, put in a straight piece of 4 inch semi-rigid pipe right out the exit at the wall. It's like a new dryer, dries beach towel load in 40 minutes, and not even on high heat. The main issue is, we could very readily have had a fire if I hadn't checked, and corrected this.
 
Thanks for the heads-up.
I check every appliance yearly in my house.

Dryer - I recently changed the Burner Tube (gas goes in / flame comes out) and the Igniter.

Because of this Virus, I spent some time figuring out what all the components do.
Should make the next repair easier.
 
Oh yeah they can get filled up pretty bad.

When we finally get done with the bathroom remodel, we're going to have the dryer against an exterior wall and straight pipe through the wall. Should work pretty well.
 
True. Coincidentally I just had my dryer and bathrooms outside vents cleaned last week. Birds nests in both of them. They're the type that have those horizontal louvers that open and close but determined birds can force them open and climb in. Had bird cages installed to prevent future problems.
 
CD, Good Hint.

Also If it's a long run of piping- don't forget a water trap.


My wife made me clean ours last month. It wasn't too bad as I had just replaced the collapsible Vinyl hose with a Foil hose.
a couple years earlier.

More suggestions: Don't clean the lint trap every use; A little layer of fluff on there will help filter out the fine fuzzies

And do consider as Electric Dryers are a monumental waste of electricity.

Set up a Clothesline in the good weather. We had a rope and sheave running from our 2nd story bedroom porch a tree 30 ft out in the yard.

Too modern a man for that?

No! now more than ever is the best time to use free sun power.
 
Bravo Smart man
thumbsup2.gif


pretty much same thing goes for cabin filters and poor A/C performance. As always check the little stuff first, before messing with the big $$$$ Stuff lol


Dave
 
I've seen some service vans around here advertising this service. Where it's the main thing they do. The epitome of preventative maintenance. Helps prevent your house from burning to the ground. Supposedly took out a house across the street from me years ago. It had to be completely rebuilt.
 
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One of the apartment buildings I own is an 8 unit and has a common laundry in the basement. The owner before me installed a duct shut off at the dryer. Then right past that is a 2 inch tee with a cap. Pull the cap off, close the shut off to the dryer and attach an electric leaf blower. I clean the duct work once a year with this method and there's enough lint to fill two to three 5 gallon buckets. Seeing this is the only way to clean the ducts since they go through the wall, its fast and easy. Lint seems to catch on the sheet metal screws attaching the rigid pipe together. On the flex stuff, lint always gets caught on the ribs. I was always told to stay away from the plastic flex pipe for fire reasons.
 
Originally Posted by Michael_P
One of the apartment buildings I own is an 8 unit and has a common laundry in the basement. The owner before me installed a duct shut off at the dryer. Then right past that is a 2 inch tee with a cap. Pull the cap off, close the shut off to the dryer and attach an electric leaf blower. I clean the duct work once a year with this method and there's enough lint to fill two to three 5 gallon buckets. Seeing this is the only way to clean the ducts since they go through the wall, its fast and easy. Lint seems to catch on the sheet metal screws attaching the rigid pipe together. On the flex stuff, lint always gets caught on the ribs. I was always told to stay away from the plastic flex pipe for fire reasons.

That's very clever!
 
Just put your hand on the metal flashing every month or so. If the pipe starts to get cooler, you know it's plugging up and losing flow (or a heater element died). At the same time the top of your dryer will be getting hotter since it's not able to remove as much heat. Dryer top should be cool or at most warm to the touch and the discharge duct very warm to almost hot.

Not also that if you have one of those flap valves at the end of the line...... that lint can get behind the hinges and keep it from fully opening. Same effect as if the line were clogging up, only more insidious. With enough lint that flap might only open 1/4-1/2 inch when 1-2 inches is normal. I stick a screw driver in there (with mirror for guidance) every 6 months to clean out that compacted lint. That flapper valve should have a full range of motion with minimal flow needed to open it fully.

True story. My neighbor never checked his lint trap - 3-5 yrs must have gone by. When I checked it for him there was 2-3" compacted line (ie a "carpet") sitting in that trap. It was so plugged I initially couldn't even pull the trap out - had to compress the lint inch by inch. Amazing he was able to get any drying and that a fire didn't start.
 
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Never run flex-duct!!!!!! Hard pipe is the only thing we install, Your dryer will work much better, No screws!!!!!!!! Foil tape or use hose clamps for the connections,
 
I teach my Boy Scouts how to start a fire using a flint and steel, and a toilet paper tube filled with dryer lint. Once you try that method, you'll never neglect your dryer vent again!
 
Originally Posted by cven
Never run flex-duct!!!!!! Hard pipe is the only thing we install, Your dryer will work much better, No screws!!!!!!!! Foil tape or use hose clamps for the connections,



Hose clamps at a buck apiece. Easy on and off for maintenance. Screws Protruding into the pipe just give that lint something to grab onto and it builds from there.
 
One thing you didn't mention is the vent screen on the roof. My Florida dryer vents through the roof, and we were having long drying times. Once I got up there I knew why right away. There is a screen to keep the Anoles out, and it was plugged solid with lint. Cleaned it out, and a few months later I checked it again, already plugged! This time I just removed the screen altogether and no more issues.

One thing I'd like to do is change the dryer vent arrangement inside the house. We have those front loader sets from LG, and they're on stands. It is impossible to get behind them to check the vent. I need to cut a hole in the wall up high so I can attach the dryer vent pipe AFTER the dryer is positioned, then use solid pipe or one of those FLAT KITS available at the home store.
 
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