It’s about me trying to fit the damned vent from my clothes dryer.
It appears to be clogged (somewhat) with lint. It takes clothes forever to dry, which is inconvenient and expensive. I believe the lint build-up is also a fire hazard. The trouble is, the vent is long. It goes from my laundry room (which, by the way, the idiot architect and builder made too small to really accommodate a dryer) through the walls for at least 12’ before being vented to the outside. It makes several good turns, too. I bought a special flexible brush that I’ve snaked through, maybe about 6’ worth, but when I hit the second bend I can’t get it in further. I’ve tried a shop vac to suck out lint. No go. I can’t reach the vent from outside because it’s on the 2nd floor, in the back where we have a walk-out basement, so it’s up high.
What the hell do I do? Who do I hire to handle this? An HVAC company, who clean out ducts? Can I get a general handyman-type–is this the sort of thing he could figure out? What the hell? Has anyone else wrangled with this?
I shouldn’t have to deal with such mundane problems. I’ve got ignorance to fight, world peace to bring about, the dinosaur genome to map, not to mention the fact that the National Enquirer has a hot new piece on Nicole and Tom I just gotta read.
Know any electricians? See if you can borrow a tool called a “fish tape”. This comes in various forms, but basically is a coil of spring wire that is fed through runs of electrical conduit and used to pull wires back through.
(Plumbers also use something similar for sewer pipes, a tape about 1/16 thick and 3/4 wide with a ball on the end, but these usually are pretty grimy after a few uses)
You could try snaking it through, then attaching some kind of brush and pulling it back. (Note: it may help to push a tennis ball on the end if you have difficulty getting it around the bends) If the flap of the vent hood is a problem, try running it through, then pulling a strong cord back from the outside. Then tie a brush, rag etc to the cord and pull it back through from the inside of the house to the outside, hopefully collecting all of your crud on the way. Might take several repetitions.
What you probably already know: a 12 foot run with several bends is really too much for a dryer vent system. Your dryer is running at much less than peak efficiency, much like a car with a clogged exhaust pipe.
I’d be a bit careful with the fish tape – if they used the accordian-like metal tubing, it’s fairly flimsy. You could end up puncturing the hose and then you’d have some real problems.
Try getting a ladder and working on the vent from the outside.
Consider rerouting the vent for more direct access to the
outside.
Cranky, you’re right. Uncleaned lint filters are a MAJOR fire hazard.
I don’t know if it works the same where you are but here in Australia our fire services respond quite well when people ask for advice about reducing fire hazards in their homes. Try calling them to see if they can send round someone to give you advice on the issue. And maybe that person will have a solution.
A nice husky fireman, about twenty three years old, fit muscular and - oh sorry, my mind was wandering.
Maybe, just maybe, If you huff and puff, just like the big bad wolf you might be able to just blow it out.
Yeah I know that was lame. sorry.
Seriously though cranky I really don’t know, when their is problems of this nature that arise i usually just call a professional. Yeah it’ll cost you a couple extra bucks but at least he will have the proper tools and stuff, and you won’t waste your time with it. Goodluck
Everyone else here has offered good advice for cleaning the tube out, so I’ll address the possibility of a long-term fix.
Is there any way possible to re-route the vent tubing? When we had our dryer put in the guy said we had a good setup because our laundry room is at the back of the house and there’s only a fot of space between the back of the dryer and the outside - our tube is only a foot long. He said that the longer the tube, the longer it takes the dryer to do its job. Something about the blower not really being strong enough to move the moisture out that long a tube. Plus, as you’ve discovered, more room for lint to pile up.
Suggest talking to a dryer repairman. He might be able to find a way to shorten your vent tube.
It sounds like what I need to do is track down our builder and kick his ass. In the middle of the beating, I’ll get him to cough up the name of the architect and go kick his ass, too.
There’s no moving the vent because that 12’ of vent tube is encased behind our walls–though maybe it goes up the attic… I’ll have to check. I hope so, because otherwise I’d have to saw through DRYWALL to get to it, and even then, there’s no way to shorten it if we want it to vent outside. The laundry room is not on an outside wall, so the thing has to run through our house. I had no idea that mattered (why would I, when an architect drew up the laundry room this way? I’m not the one with the knowledge about building) but given the other problems we’ve had with our condo, I am not in the least bit surprised that this was not an appropriate location for a laundry room. Incidentally, I heard that at some point (after we moved in) they stopped offering the 2nd floor laundry room on new units. The room is now offered only as a storage closet. Maybe they got wise.
Which doesn’t solve MY problem. I called an appliance service and they said they don’t do vents, which is why they suggested a HVAC. But I guess I’d like to talk with someone who knows about such things how impossible our setup really is, and whether we need to move the whole kit and caboodle two floors down to the basement hookups. I can’t say that’s a task I relish. Maybe a home inspector? Grrrrrr.
There is another solution Cranky. It’s not cheap, but it’s effective, and it’s easy. It will also solve both your venting problem, and the lack of space you encounter in your laundry room.
It’s a combination washer/dryer. One unit does everything. That solves your space dilemma. There are units that use a condensation principle to dry your clothes and remove the water. All of the steamy moist heat that would normally leave through your vent, is instead condensed back into it’s liquid form, and disposed of down the drain pipe on the heels of the wash water. In addition to relieving you of your need to vent, they also claim to reduce your total laundry time by 20 minutes per load. They’re front loading (which is an improvement over top loading) and the entire drum is constructed of stainless steel.
I know, I sound like a commercial, but they’re great machines, and as soon as my tax return check arrives, I’m getting one. They run anywhere between 900 and 1300 bucks, but before you gasp, remember. This replaces both of your machines. A google search will provide many choices and prices. Hope this helps.
Here’s a link to one site that offers the Condensing version. There are many others.
http://www.creativelaundry.com/quietline/
As I was looking for the website, it occurred to me that if you were to compare the purchase of one of these machines to having your venting reconfigured, it would probably be cheaper to go with the machine. At any rate, I hope you find a solution that works for you and your wallet.