Dryer Vent Cleaning

Has anyone had this done, and any recommendations?

Our dryer is on the top floor of T/H and vents to the roof.

 

I didn't think you were supposed to vent a dryer "up".(?)

 

We used Bryant's Air Duct Cleaning 703-594-3040. Our clothes were taking forever to dry and after checking out the dryer, we realized the duct was clogged. They got a shopping bag sized clump out, even though we are meticulous about cleaning out the lint trap. They charged $99. We had a coupon thru one of those Val-Pak mailers. They'll probably give it to you for that price even without the coupon.

During a winter check-up of our furnace our AC/Heating guy found an old hoodie sweatshirt covered with dust and dirt in the duct in furnace room. It must have come from one of the construction workers during building 9 years ago. Found out from Bryants guy that they have found clothing, tennis shoes, beer cans, trash etc. during duct cleaning so that's next on our list.

 

How often are you supposed to do the dryer vent cleaning? Every 5 years? Thanks.

 

echogirl,

How did they remove the lint clog, by vacuuming or other methods? Does your dryer vent to the outside wall or up thru roof? Thanks.

 

My husband was home when they came, he says they used a snake like device with a spinning brush on the end. Our dryer vents outside the wall, laundry room is off of the garage and vents out the back side of the house.

As for how often - we will more than likely check ours at least every 5 years.

It was money well spent, our dryer now works much more efficiently.

 

From an email I received today (I haven't tried it personally so I don't know how good it works):

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. WELL...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free - that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

 

Loudoun_terp:

Our townhouse also vents through the roof - after frustration with the dryer taking long to dry clothes, I got adventurous and (with the help of my father-in-law) climbed up in the attic, found the correct pipe, and disassembled it from the vent at the roofline.

What I found was lots of lint clogged at the top. But more significantly, the vent had fully "crusted over" (for lack of a better term) with old lent. I imagine the lint was moist, or the vent was moist, and it wasn't able to clear. Thus, no air whatsoever was able to flow.

The vent was actually a waffle-patterned type vent versus the 2 or 3 loose flap type vent (where air pressure is enough to open the flaps only when the dryer is running). Because it's always exposed to the elements, I fear it will just "crust over" again.

From inside the house, I've also tried: blowing air up the pipe to loosen any lint and have it fall down; get a small PVC pipe and tape a duster on the end (although my fear with that is that it would just push a clump of lint up and cause a bigger blockage); and simply sticking my hand up as far as I could. Those get the immediate problem but not the major issue.

For now, the dryer takes a little while to dry, but it's not excessively long (although my wife might not agree).

 

echogirl....thanks for the info

dcdavis....good info. That is my suspicion also. We probably have the same setup. The dryer vent is a 4" rigid metal tube going up to the roof, not sure what type of vent is used on the roof though. I can see it from my bedroom window. The first contractor I hired just used a powerful vacuum, but that didn't fix the problem. Wasted $85 bucks there I'm sure there's a big lint ball at the end near roof vent.

I called around today. First company in Sterling uses a snake hose with compressed air, other company mentioned by poster above uses a rotary brush. Price is $155 vs. $100. Not sure which method is better to get the job done.

 

guess nobody told van metre that....ours does the same.

 

I heard that another good thing to do is to vaccuum out the slot where the filter is inserted. Even if you clean it out religiously, apparently a lot of lint still gathers in that pocket. The first time I tried that (with that thin vaccuum attachment) I heard several loud "thunk" sounds from clumps of lint getting sucked into the vaccuum cleaner.

 

we disconnect the tube (?) from the dryer, then attach our leaf blower to the end of it and blow out all the excess lint. then one of us is on the deck cleaning up all the stuff that comes out! fun to watch ;-) we do this once a year usually.

 

Your vents to the sidewall of the house I suppose?

 

Terp, is there a way you can get into the attic and redirect the vent to on side of the house? If not, I would contact the builder and talk to them about it.

 

I do not live in Broadlands, but in a nearby community. My townhouse has the same dryer vent setup -- vents to the roof.

According to this site (http://repair2000.com/vent.html), that is a big no no. Apparently, there is a fix of sorts for this setup (eave venting): http://repair2000.com/eave_vent1.jpg.

I may have a contractor do this, as my dryer vent keeps getting clogged and the dryer performance is very weak despite using a high quality Asko dryer.

 

Has anyone tried something like this? http://www.rewci.com/dryerventclean.html

 

The Miller & Smith townhouses are the same way. It's nice to have the washer/dryer upstairs, but the venting system is a pain.