Cleaning the dryer vent

[mikesim]

Well, it was inevitable. After my ten day safari to Canada with my son, I returned home to find that my wife had accumulated several honey-do's while I was gone. It is the penance I pay for ten days of sheer enjoyment on the bike. Most were quite quickly disposed of but one I had a bad feeling about. She indicated that the clothes dryer has been taking an excessive amount of time to dry clothes lately. I checked the dryer vent to the outside and cleaned a bit of lint away and also checked for an obstruction at the dryer itself but all way clear. The problem with my vent system is that the dryer is located in the interior of the house about 20 feet from an exterior wall so that there is a 20' run of PVC pipe before the vent exits the house. My fear was that an obstruction had occurred there and would be difficult to clean. Never being one to try to do things the hard way, I sought an easy way to clear any obstruction. After some contemplation, inspiration struck me like a bolt from the blue...... of course..... why didn't I think of it sooner!!?? The leaf blower! I went to the garage and fired up the leaf blower and let it warm up. After a brief warmup I entered the house thru the door to the garage with the leaf blower in full song. Both cats immediately headed for the tall grass assuming that the Texas chainsaw massacre was upon them, two gray streaks in opposite directions. I then inserted the nozzle of the blower into the dryer vent and let 'er rip! Admittedly, it was quite a racket. After about a minute I switched off the blower only to find that all the smoke detectors in the house were indeed functional and only quieted down after I turned on the attic fan to ventilate the house. We shall see if my efforts were successful but my wife who was outside observing the exterior vent said only a small amount of lint blew out.

Mike

 

[Reniram]

Now thats what i call excellent preventive maintenance...well done and dont forget to replace the batteries on all your home safety devices !

 

[rc_heli_nut]

Sounds like the guy way to do things! Hopefully you fixed the long dry time problem. Unfortunately I've found the problem to not always be the vent to the outside, but rather a buildup of lint in the front panel of the dryer, below the lint trap. On most dryers, the top hinges up easily like a car hood, after releasing 2 latches, and then the entire front panel lifts up and off, after removing 2 screws and maybe some door switch wires. There's usually a lint buildup at the 90 degree bend, at the bottom of the front panel.

 

[junglejim]

Well, it was inevitable. After my ten day safari to Canada with my son, I returned home to find that my wife had accumulated several honey-do's while I was gone. It is the penance I pay for ten days of sheer enjoyment on the bike. Most were quite quickly disposed of but one I had a bad feeling about. She indicated that the clothes dryer has been taking an excessive amount of time to dry clothes lately. I checked the dryer vent to the outside and cleaned a bit of lint away and also checked for an obstruction at the dryer itself but all way clear. The problem with my vent system is that the dryer is located in the interior of the house about 20 feet from an exterior wall so that there is a 20' run of PVC pipe before the vent exits the house. My fear was that an obstruction had occurred there and would be difficult to clean. Never being one to try to do things the hard way, I sought an easy way to clear any obstruction. After some contemplation, inspiration struck me like a bolt from the blue...... of course..... why didn't I think of it sooner!!?? The leaf blower! I went to the garage and fired up the leaf blower and let it warm up. After a brief warmup I entered the house thru the door to the garage with the leaf blower in full song. Both cats immediately headed for the tall grass assuming that the Texas chainsaw massacre was upon them, two gray streaks in opposite directions. I then inserted the nozzle of the blower into the dryer vent and let 'er rip! Admittedly, it was quite a racket. After about a minute I switched off the blower only to find that all the smoke detectors in the house were indeed functional and only quieted down after I turned on the attic fan to ventilate the house. We shall see if my efforts were successful but my wife who was outside observing the exterior vent said only a small amount of lint blew out.

Mike

Sounds like a Red Green episode.
“if women don’t find you handsome they can find you handy”.

 

[DirtFlier]

I'm lucky in that the outside dryer vent is less than 4-feet from the hot air outlet in the back of the dryer.

When my boys lived with me, I would have to change the heating element in my elec dryer about every 3 yrs. Once they moved away, that element lasted much longer in fact I just put in a new element after about 15 yrs? I think they ALWAYS set the timer for 60-min then went back to their rooms so the thing was probably cranking out heat about 40 min more than necessary!

 

[DirtFlier]

I'm lucky in that the outside dryer vent is less than 4-feet from the hot air outlet in the back of the dryer so I can easily see if it's clogged or clear.

When my boys lived with me, I would have to change the heating element in my elec dryer about every 3 yrs. Once they moved away, that element lasted much longer in fact I just put in a new heating element after about 15 yrs?

 

[dnktng]

You can get the smoke detector alarms to clear by fanning them with some air. If fanning them sounds tedious and time consuming... try a leaf blower. You'll thank be later.

 

[ARKNT]

My dryer exhaust is also about 20 feet from the outside. Also it is in the slab and the exit point is pretty low and can get a bit of moisture in it from time to time. When the vent gets a bit too much buildup the heating element seems more likely to fail, less flow more heat probably.

My technique is mostly opposite of yours. I use 2 1/2 sections of 10ft PVC conduit with the sections duct taped together. This is connected to my shop vac to suck the lint out from the outside instead of blowing it out from the inside end. Seems to work well for me. Since I started cleaning it once a year or so no heating element failures.

I have seen dryer ductwork that go to the attic before exiting so those have elbows which would complicate my shop vac technique.
I have not scared any animals or set off any smoke detectors while cleaning mine.

Arknt

 

[Coyote Chris]

This has always been a pet peeve of mine. Look up how many house fires these stupid vents cause.
Like you, the only logical fix was pulling off the hose from the dryer and sticking in my Toro electric leaf blower nozzel. I could not believe the pile of lint outside.
My biggest peeve is how hard the "engineers" make it to get the hose on and off the dryer and stay connected once put on. https://www.westfieldinsurance.com/resources/articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-clogged-dryer-vents#:~:text=According to the National Fire,million in property damage yearly.

 

[Yoda]

Mike, if you’re not related to “Red Green”, then perhaps “Tim the Toolman”?
Rich

 

[mikesim]

I actually think it's the moisture sensor. Over time the probe accumulates a residue from the fabric softener sheets. I'm going to check the current with an amprobe to make sure the element isn't partially open.

Mike

 

[Phil Tarman]

During the time we lived in Ft. Morgan, we had the drier vent clog a couple of times. Both times it was baby mice (dead baby mice) that were clogging it.