PSA - clean your dryer vents

lyndausvi · October 2015

So when we moved in I complained about the dryer not drying. Landlord called a repair guy. He said it was fine, but maybe the air vent inside the wall was clogged. Landlord didn't do anything about it.

That was almost 2 years ago and the thing always took too long to dry. So much so that 9 months ago I started to air dry everything but sheets. Which btw I actually like better and have saved a bunch of money on electric.

Well last week it wouldn't even dry the sheets. So we pulled out the vent that is between the dryer and the wall and it was pretty full but not clogged.

Turned it back on, still not drying (but getting hot).

Today DH takes the back of the dryer off and then the vent (inside the dryer). It's completely clogged which made the fan not spin anymore . I do not think the guy last year didn't even checked the vent in the actually dryer. I pulled out stuff that didn't even belong to us. No way we caused that much lint, especially since I air dry most pretty much everything but sheets. Even towels I air dry.

It was so bad I'm not sure how a fire had not started. Seriously, it was that bad that if I continued to dry and us it there more than likely would have started a fire.

Please, please check your vents. Not just the tube coming from the dryer to the outside vent, but the one that connects your lint screen to the back of dryer.

Now things dry in record time.

madamerwin · October 2015

Ugh, a dryer fire is one of my biggest fears... We have to clean out our vents very regularly, and they still fill quickly (old dryer). H gets annoyed when I insist we don't leave the dryer running when we leave the house, but it's not a risk I am willing to take. I'm glad you figured it out before it caught fire!

julieanne912 · October 2015

My old hairdresser's house burned down because of dryer lint. Definitely something to keep an eye on!

tfmrserwin, H won't let me leave the dryer on when we leave either!

MobKaz · October 2015

tfmrserwin said:

Ugh, a dryer fire is one of my biggest fears... We have to clean out our vents very regularly, and they still fill quickly (old dryer). H gets annoyed when I insist we don't leave the dryer running when we leave the house, but it's not a risk I am willing to take. I'm glad you figured it out before it caught fire!

I would NEVER do this, either. It is NOT worth the potential risk.

I almost did have a fire with my dryer. I had just put a load in the dryer. I was loading the washer when I saw a spark from the corner of my eye, and then white smoke. I immediately unplugged the dryer and literally hulked the dryer away from the wall to clear it from the vent line. Had I not been right there at the time.........***shudders****

I clean my vents faithfully!

lc07 · October 2015

I remember a classmate of mine's house burned down when we were in elementary school because of a dryer fire.

I (stupidly) never thought to clean out lint inside the dryer - I've always only checked the hose that runs from the back of the dryer to outside!!! On my to-do list for tomorrow (before I do another load of laundry). Thanks, Lynda.

anjemon · October 2015

This is probably something we really should do.

Also because our dryer vent system has started to make this high pitched whining noise. Google tells me it's just air escaping the tube in a place it shouldn't, but it's super annoying and makes it hard to do laundry when I might want to dry things late at night.

lyndausvi · October 2015

Yeah, it was pretty scary how bad it was. As I said, I have mostly air dried since early in the year. Only sheets once every other week and sometimes a random things I need right away. We are pretty dry and sunny here, so they dry pretty fast. Sometimes quicker then the dryer did. Better for the clothes and saved electric. win-win.

spockforprez · October 2015

FH just did this today. Awesome advice.

huskypuppy14 · October 2015

You should clean the lint tray after ever load. Are you talking about something else? The hose was cleaned when we moved in, but I'm not sure what else needs to be checked out.

That's a good idea to not leave the house when the dryer is on.

lyndausvi · October 2015

huskypuppy14 said:

You should clean the lint tray after ever load. Are you talking about something else? The hose was cleaned when we moved in, but I'm not sure what else needs to be checked out.

That's a good idea to not leave the house when the dryer is on.

I clean the vent after every load. Then re-check before I turn it on for the next load.

see the black area? That is the dryer vent. The top of the black thing is where the vent screen is located (you access it from the front). The bottom part of the black thing is where the fan is located. We had lint clogging the fan and most of the way up to the vent screen. So even though I was cleaning the screen, there was lint in places the screen didn't reach.

Plus there was lint in the duct that goes outside.

WinstonsGirl · October 2015

Hmm. We have a stackable in a closet. We can't really access the back. I have a hose thing to vacuum out behind the lint trap, but our vacuum is too strong and it sucks the hose shut

lyndausvi · October 2015

WinstonsGirl said:

Hmm. We have a stackable in a closet. We can't really access the back. I have a hose thing to vacuum out behind the lint trap, but our vacuum is too strong and it sucks the hose shut

I think that is part of the problem. Most people do not think about pulling out a non-stackable dryer, let alone a stackable. It took DH and I to do everything. DH pulled it out and opened it up. I helped clean it out, but he could have done that himself. Between the duct being short and not a lot of room, I was the one who had to squeeze back behind the dryer to re-attach the duct to the wall vent.

WinstonsGirl · October 2015

I'll have to pull out the manual on that one too. Weekend project I suppose

jenna8984 · October 2015

Definitely!! My H is an ex fireman so when we moved into this new (to us) house he refused to let me hook up the dryer until he vacuumed the pipes from the interior and exterior. So glad yours did not catch on fire!

fyrchk · October 2015

Oh God. As a firefighter I can't tell you how many people have lost everything to dryer fires. I'm so paranoid about it now. I won't leave the house with any major appliance running. Or lamps turned on.

My mom came to visit and wanted to leave the Christmas tree plugged in and I refused. She got all pouty until I was like, "Christmas tree or possibly no house?"

Another good reason to clean the dryer vent is because big pieces of lint can fall off of the lint screen and just hang out down there. (You may also find those odd socks.)

@lyndausvi thanks for the reminder and I'm glad you guys got it figured out before it became a huge issue.

sparklepants41 · October 2015

The threat of a dryer fire frightens H & me to no avail - similar to other PPs, we don't leave the house with the dryer on either!

@lyndausvi thanks so much for posting this! Also - nothing skeeves me out more than other peoples' lint. *shudder* I am in awe of your ability to pull out all that lint - with your bare hands!!!

lyndausvi · October 2015

sparklepants41 said:

The threat of a dryer fire frightens H & me to no avail - similar to other PPs, we don't leave the house with the dryer on either!

@lyndausvi thanks so much for posting this! Also - nothing skeeves me out more than other peoples' lint. *shudder* I am in awe of your ability to pull out all that lint - with your bare hands!!!

I worked on a sailboat. Lint is far from the worst other people's things I've had to clean.

sparklepants41 · October 2015

lyndausvi said:

sparklepants41 said:

The threat of a dryer fire frightens H & me to no avail - similar to other PPs, we don't leave the house with the dryer on either!

@lyndausvi thanks so much for posting this! Also - nothing skeeves me out more than other peoples' lint. *shudder* I am in awe of your ability to pull out all that lint - with your bare hands!!!

I worked on a sailboat. Lint is far from the worst other people's things I've had to clean.

Wow. I don't even want to know. But man, you are brave!

PSA - clean your dryer vents

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