Your Clothes Dryer's Vent Pipe

D

Damaged Goods

Member
Location
Maryland
How often do you get it reamed out? What do they do, pull the dryer out, and use some device to "suck" the lint from the pipe? Or some other method?

When my wife first showing signs of dementia in 2011, I began doing the laundry, but have never had the pipe cleaned. I do only one load of wash every two weeks and never use the hot setting. Just warm. Does that decrease the risk of fire?

Tell you the truth, I assume that wife had it reamed out periodically, but not 100% certain.
 

My laundry room isn't far from our garage and we have an air hose hooked up out there for the car. Its long enough to reach to the back of the dryer. I first blow out the vent where the filter is inside the machine and then undo the hose on the back of the dryer and blow it out. All the lint flies out the vent that is on the outside of the house. I do that twice a year but clean the filter after every wash load.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
My laundry room isn't far from our garage and we have an air hose hooked up out there for the car. Its long enough to reach to the back of the dryer. I first blow out the vent where the filter is inside the machine and then undo the hose on the back of the dryer and blow it out. All the lint flies out the vent that is on the outside of the house. I do that twice a year but clean the filter after every wash load.
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Oh migawd. I'm in trouble. Of course I clean the filter after every load but have never had the hose reamed out. :(
 

Good reminder. Many people just remove the lint off the screen & think that's all that needs to be done.
Lots of lint collects in the vent tube that goes outside & when it gets clogged, the heat has no way to escape & the lint can catch fire. You may not notice it until it spreads. Or, you may turn the dryer on, then run errands.

A few weeks ago, I stuck my vacuum cleaner into the vent from outside. I couldn't believe how much lint came out.
 
win231 said:
Good reminder. Many people just remove the lint off the screen & think that's all that needs to be done.
Lots of lint collects in the vent tube that goes outside & when it gets clogged, the heat has no way to escape & the lint can catch fire. You may not notice it until it spreads. Or, you may turn the dryer on, then run errands.

A few weeks ago, I stuck my vacuum cleaner into the vent from outside. I couldn't believe how much lint came out.
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If you keep the heat at warm rather than hot, does that reduce the risk significantly?
 
Damaged Goods said:
If you keep the heat at warm rather than hot, does that reduce the risk significantly?
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No. I've seen a dryer being repaired while it was disassembled, so I could see the outside of the drum while the repairman was testing it. Huge flames. On a "warm" setting, there would still be fire - just smaller flames. The lint still builds up in the vent.
After seeing that, I only use the dryer when I'm home & awake.
 
More important than the "heat", is the distance the dryer is from the outside vent. The further the dryer is from the outdoor vent, the lower the air flow velocity at the outdoor vent. Low airflow will allow more lint to build up in the vent pipe. If you observe the vent "flaps", they should be flapping vigorously when the dryer is running.
 
Don M. said:
More important than the "heat", is the distance the dryer is from the outside vent. The further the dryer is from the outdoor vent, the lower the air flow velocity at the outdoor vent. Low airflow will allow more lint to build up in the vent pipe. If you observe the vent "flaps", they should be flapping vigorously when the dryer is running.
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Yeah, the distance is short and the flaps flap vigorously like Maggie's drawers.

The reason I haven't called a pro is that the sections of the pipe are literally taped with duct tape.. Afraid that they'll ruin something when they mess with it.

Maybe I should assume that they're pros and know what they're doing.
 
If you pull the lint screen out, so that you can clean it, if you shine a light down into that opening you can see if lint is building up inside the dryer. There should be a couple screws on the inside that will allow that tray attachment to be removed and you can clean out the dryer where the vent exits into the dryer vent tube.
I just replaced the dryer vent tube at my mother in laws and it was quite full, although she cleans the trap each time. I pulled out the dryer and detached the vent hose. Lint was building up at the transition where the vent tube makes a 90 degree turn. I simply replaced all of hers with a rigid pipe which will accommodate clean outs. The older plastic or foil vents are so cheap they simply will not accommodate much in the way of clean out and frankly your never sure if you get it all anyways. The outside exit port is typically a series of vents like a venetian blind and they typically gather the lint and then either want to stick open or partially closed. In her situation it had not been serviced in a long time and it was more efficient to just replace the entire vent system than try and clean the old. You may want to see which type of vent you have.
 
Damaged Goods said:
How often do you get it reamed out? What do they do, pull the dryer out, and use some device to "suck" the lint from the pipe? Or some other method?

When my wife first showing signs of dementia in 2011, I began doing the laundry, but have never had the pipe cleaned. I do only one load of wash every two weeks and never use the hot setting. Just warm. Does that decrease the risk of fire?

Tell you the truth, I assume that wife had it reamed out periodically, but not 100% certain.
Click to expand...
We have never had ours cleaned, though dear husband (from time to time) goes outside to check the flow of the exhaust when the dryer is in use.

The dryer exhaust pipe in our house is aluminum, and when dear husband was doing a bunch of work in the basement, a guy he knows that owns a plumbing & heating mentioned that the less elbows in a dryer vent pipe, the better.
 
Aunt Marg said:
We have never had ours cleaned, though dear husband (from time to time) goes outside to check the flow of the exhaust when the dryer is in use.

The dryer exhaust pipe in our house is aluminum, and when dear husband was doing a bunch of work in the basement, a guy he knows that owns a plumbing & heating mentioned that the less elbows in a dryer vent pipe, the better.
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Wow, your experience and practice differ from the other tales here. From your statements, and unlike me, dear husband seems to be competent in the area of blue-collar skills. Guess he knows what he's doing. How long have you had your current pipe? Mine's aluminum like yours and it has one 90-degree elbow.
 
Damaged Goods said:
Wow, your experience and practice differ from the other tales here. From your statements, and unlike me, dear husband seems to be competent in the area of blue-collar skills. Guess he knows what he's doing. How long have you had your current pipe? Mine's aluminum like yours and it has one 90-degree elbow.
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My husband has done, and continues to do pretty much all that needs doing when it comes to building, repairs, etc, but one thing that sets my husband apart from regular ordinary DIY kind of guys, is that he seeks advice and info from knowledgeable people before tackling jobs and things, and he's not afraid to ask for help when and if he needs it.

You have one elbow in your dryer vent pipe, which is excellent, and so long as you can feel a good steady exhaust exiting from your vent pipe, I wouldn't give any thought as to worry over it being plugged or compromised.

When we moved into our home our old vent pipe was plastic, and that's a serious fire hazard, and here in Canada, is no longer allowed by code.

As for the aluminum dryer vent pipe that dear husband installed, it's been in place now for a good 18 years now (at least), and the only thing dear husband does every few months, is remove small fragments of lint that build-up in and around the flapper on the outside of the house. What he finds is, if the small fragments of fluff are allowed to accumulate, they keep the flap-door from closing fully once the dryer finishes a drying cycle, but other than that we have performed zero maintenance on ours, and we have several elbows in our dryer vent pipe.
 
I wash the dryer filter because the use of dryer sheets leaves a waxy film on the screen that can reduce air flow somewhat.

As for the dryer vent pipe I go outside prop it open & use my 190mph. leaf blower to clear any lint.
 
Lint will ignite like gasoline. Pay a professional to do it. don't save a dime to spend a dollar. There are brushes you can buy to insert in to the lint hole to clean you dryer.
 
Damaged Goods said:
How often do you get it reamed out? What do they do, pull the dryer out, and use some device to "suck" the lint from the pipe? Or some other method?
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I only do mine every couple of years, I move the dryer out enough to get behind and disconnect the hose, then vacuum it out with a vacuum attachment. Like others here, I clean the lint filter after every load and wash that off a couple of times a year.
Ruth n Jersey said:
I also use the vacuum hose on the refrigerator motor when I pull it out twice a year. Ours is over 20 years old and I'm sure its because I make sure its clean and dust free
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I try to do that to my refrigerator once a year, I pull it away from the wall, shut off and unplug, remove back panel and gently vacuum out any dust. Honestly, I try to put off any chores like this until I feel it's necessary, I'm no Suzy Homemaker. :)
 
Damaged Goods said:
The outside has a shutter device with three little flaps that only open up when the dryer is running. Otherwise the flaps close to keep out bees and such.
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Just unscrew the vent cover, lay it to the side, vacuum it out, replace cover back, screw down. It’s easy, I can do it, and my husband can to do it. When he does it, I just have to go out and find where he dropped the screws. 🤦🏻‍♀️
 
Aneeda72 said:
Just unscrew the vent cover, lay it to the side, vacuum it out, replace cover back, screw down. It’s easy, I can do it, and my husband can to do it. When he does it, I just have to go out and find where he dropped the screws. 🤦🏻‍♀️
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You're saying that you vacuum from outside the residence?
 
Lotta interesting suggestions here, but with the problems with my upper extremities, I got a pro. $255. First, he vacced the back of the dryer for 25 mins. I noticed that the vertical portion of the tube was detached from the elbow that leads directly to outside. Didn't say anything, figured he knew what he was doing.

Next he went outside and vacced for 5 minutes and left.

I went back to the basement and saw that the vertical portion was still detached. o_O I ain't any blue collar genius but knew that was wrong. Got him to return and attach it.

But now it dawns on me: I wonder if when he vacced from outside, the vac hose got into the vertical tube or just dangling in space.

(Incidentally, he showed up two hrs. late, was clumsy, and seemed to be rushing.)
 
Damaged Goods said:
Lotta interesting suggestions here, but with the problems with my upper extremities, I got a pro. $255. First, he vacced the back of the dryer for 25 mins. I noticed that the vertical portion of the tube was detached from the elbow that leads directly to outside. Didn't say anything, figured he knew what he was doing.

Next he went outside and vacced for 5 minutes and left.

I went back to the basement and saw that the vertical portion was still detached. o_O I ain't any blue collar genius but knew that was wrong. Got him to return and attach it.

But now it dawns on me: I wonder if when he vacced from outside, the vac hose got into the vertical tube or just dangling in space.

(Incidentally, he showed up two hrs. late, was clumsy, and seemed to be rushing.)
Click to expand...
255 big money for us, small money for him.
 
Damaged Goods said:
Lotta interesting suggestions here, but with the problems with my upper extremities, I got a pro. $255. First, he vacced the back of the dryer for 25 mins. I noticed that the vertical portion of the tube was detached from the elbow that leads directly to outside. Didn't say anything, figured he knew what he was doing.

Next he went outside and vacced for 5 minutes and left.

I went back to the basement and saw that the vertical portion was still detached. o_O I ain't any blue collar genius but knew that was wrong. Got him to return and attach it.

But now it dawns on me: I wonder if when he vacced from outside, the vac hose got into the vertical tube or just dangling in space.

(Incidentally, he showed up two hrs. late, was clumsy, and seemed to be rushing.)
Click to expand...
Homeowners beware... while many claim to be professionals, there are very few actual professionals out there.
 


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