Time to Clean Your Dryer Ducts – Prevent Fires
Once the weather turns cold and the heat kicks on, your home starts to get dry and static electricity arrives once again. This minor nuisance that causes siblings to shock each other for fun can actually be dangerous if it ignites lint that has built up in or around your dryer.
Why you should clean out your dryer ductwork:
According to The Consumer Product Safety Commission, ( CPSC ), annually there are tens of thousands of Dryer Fires leading to many injuries or death, due to dryer exhaust duct fires. You should clean your dryer hose and around it once a year, and inspect the vent and hose for any blockages at least every 6 months.
You could pay a professional to clean your dryer ductwork, but the price could be anywhere from $65.00 to $150.00! Ummm — no thanks — I’ll keep my money and do this myself. It only takes about 15 – 20 minutes to do and it is easy! As long as your ductwork is fairly accessible, you can handle this!
If your dryer exhaust hose tube is longer than 10′ this may be a bit more difficult. And if it is longer than 10′, did you know that your dryer may be working extra hard to dry your clothes? Worse yet is if you have a long tube that goes up into the attic (or the eaves) and then out the roof. The warm moist air from the dryer enters the cold attic, and condensation forms in the exhaust tube. Do you know where this little story is going? Well, at first your dryer can’t dry as quickly because the tube is blocked by water. Eventually it will fill with enough water to cause the exhaust tube to split and guess where all that water goes? Through your ceiling, that is where! Trust me on this one, it happened to us in our old house.
So, why don’t you sit back down and let me give you a little tutorial on cleaning out your dryer exhaust ductwork.
Instructions:
Start by unplugging your dryer and turn off the gas if you have a gas dryer.
Remove your lint trap and remove any lint from the screen.
Using a brush (designed for cleaning out the coils under your fridge) bend the brush and run it inside the lint trap. Then follow up by using a shop vac or vacuum to suck up any lint and dirt loosened by the brush.
Pull the dryer away from the wall and disconnect the exhaust duct tube from the wall and the dryer. There are normally two kinds of hose clamps holding the tube to the dryer and wall port. The first is a ring with two prongs. Simply squeeze the prongs toward one another to loosen the clamp.
The second type of hose clamp requires a screwdriver to loosen the bolt attached to the clamp.
Slide the exhaust tube off the dryer and the port (hole in the wall.)
Use your vacuum to clean out both the dryer and wall ports.
Then use the vacuum to clean out the dryer exhaust tube.
If you have an older style vinyl tube, it is important that you replace it with a metal one. The vinyl and foil ones are fire hazards. Also, if you can’t get your tube clean, go ahead and replace it.
If your tube is long or difficult to clean out, you may want to purchase a hose brush like this one:
Amazon.com: Brushtech B68C 10-Feet Long Dryer Vent Duct Cleaning Brush: Home & Garden. (affiliate link)
While you have the dryer pulled out, vacuum off the back of the dryer, the washer, and the wall behind both. Eliminate as much lint as possible. A clean laundry room is safer than a lint covered one.
Re-attach the dryer tube to the wall and the dryer.
Gently push the dryer back towards the wall being careful not to crush the tube.
Locate your exterior dryer vent.
If you can reach the exterior vent, go ahead and clean it out also. Make sure the vent closes properly when the dryer isn’t running.Otherwise you may get birds, rodents or bugs in your vent. I don’t think I need to tell you that they won’t be helping your dryer’s efficiency!
And that is it?! That was easy wasn’t it. Be sure to keep your home and family safe by cleaning your dryer exhaust ductwork yearly.
Update: I wanted to let y’all know that the flex foil pipe shown in this tutorial is FLAMMABLE! Luckily I found this out before we had a fire.
Read about installing semi-rigid non-combustible duct in this easy tutorial!
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great way to describe with the help of pictures. It will definitely help the visitors.
YOu should add to your post to NEVER use the silver flex pipe you have but the more ridged aluminum flex pipe…what you have there is usually flammable in most cases.
Shawn, I actually just posted today about that flex pipe! I wish I had known earlier: https://prettyhandygirl.com/2013/02/installing-semi-rigid-dryer-hose-to-prevent-fire-hazard.html
Another good and tried and true method is the air compressor. I live in an old farmhouse where my washer and dryer sit in my bathroom. The vent work is through the floor between the machines and there is metal solid tubing that runs under the bathroom floor to the side of the house. I pull the washer and dryer out and vacuum behind them and vacuum off the wall sometimes up to 3 times a month. But, at the beginning of every season we have what I call an air compressor party. Air compressors are grand for getting into cracks and crevices and blowing all that extra lint out. HOWEVER, something major that wasnt mentioned here is the lint trap screen. Wax collects on that screen from fabric softner and dryer sheets. Take your lint trap out, clean it off and run it under water. If the water goes through you are safe. If it doesn’t you have wax build up and that can be a fire hazard. Clean your lint trap screen with warm soapy water and a brush. Check your screen by running it under water again.
Our dryer backs up against a wall and it is in a closet (in our kitchen) our dryer vent runs up into the cieling and then runs outside over our front door. Because of how it’s wedged against the wall it’s difficult (if not impossible) to get to. Do you have any advice on how to circumvent this issue? I can pull out the lint trap and vacuum/clean out in it, but as far as the tubing goes I don’t know how to clean it without being able to disconnect it from the dryer. We’ve lived in our house ten years and its never been cleaned so I can only imagine the horrors that exist in it, and I worry every time we run our dryer.
Also, do you have any tips on how to clean air ducts? Like for a central AC/Heat unit? Or do I have to get those professionally done?
Thanks!
Kristina,
In order to access your dryer hose you would have to pull your dryer out of the closet. But, based on what you are telling me, you may want to hire a professional who has long brushes to clean it. Usually companies that clean central heat and air ducts can do your dryer vents too.
The leading cause of lint build up is the rings in the flexible vent tubes. The uneven surface is a place for lint to collect. You should really uprgade to the smooth steel ductwork.
We just had our ducts changed from the foil bendy type to more rigid and smooth type metal because the professional who did it told us that the foil bendy type catches more lint and causes more fires. You can easily see this because it has more grooves. for lint to catch in. While it is code it is not ideal. We changed ours out for $110. This included labor.
Allison, good to know. I actually bought the smooth duct work, I just haven’t had the chance to replace ours. Maybe I need to make time for this, right?!