Since we’ve been visiting my in-laws this month I’m generally the handyman that gets to fix all the little things around their house even though I’m not really that handy. As such, my mother-in-law mentioned that the dryer was taking much longer to finish drying than it should and the first thing that popped into my head was a clogged dryer vent. I’d asked when the last time they had cleaned it and it had probably been a long time. Sure enough the dryer vent was seriously clogged!
This was no laughing matter. It’s actually a major fire hazard…
According to this website, there were 16,800 dryer fires in 2010 and, apparently, dryer vent fires now surpass creosote chimney fires. Older statistics from the 2002-2004 range state there are about 15,600 dryer-related fires each year, perhaps suggesting these types of fires are on a rise. Regardless, in my opinion, they’re nearly all preventable with just a little maintenance.
In fact, don’t wait for the dryer to tell you something is wrong, take the time once or twice a year to clean out the dry ducts just to be sure. Perhaps do it when you change the clocks for daylight savings time, after your New Year’s hangover, or whatever works for you. 🙂
It’s a relatively painless process. Just pull out the dryer, detach the air duct by unscrewing the metal band that attaches it to the dryer, and start sucking away everywhere you can get your vacuum hose attachment. Here’s what I would do:
- Start by thoroughly cleaning inside the dryer as best as you can. Get it from both the back end (where the air duct attaches to the dryer) and also from the front/top (where the lint catch is). Shove the hose attachment in there as best as you can without breaking anything. If you have a shopvac, with the dryer duct removed you might also try forcing some air through the dryer lint catch to see if you can get any more lint to come out. I didn’t try this myself but I don’t see why it would hurt.
- Now focus your attention on the dryer duct itself. You know, the flexible thing that attaches from the dryer to the wall/floor. Stick the hose attachment in there and really focus on the bottom of the duct where lint is most likely to accumulate. If it’s really dirty replace the darn thing as they’re not too terribly expensive.
- Next, if need be remove the dryer duct from the wall/floor and suck out as much lint as you can from the the solid-wall duct that enters the wall/floor. Sadly, you’re probably not going to get it all out but you can certainly make a good effort of it. I know I pulled quite a bit of lint from my mother-in-laws wall duct and there’s probably more in there. I also choose to use a shopvac and force air through the solid wall duct to see if I could get any more lint out but I don’t think that did much good.
- Check to make sure the vent on the outside of the house is not clogged and that the flaps open properly.
- Reattach everything ensuring the duct is properly secured to both the wall and the dryer, return the dryer to it’s original spot, and you’re done.
- Last, write down or schedule (on your computer, phone, day planner, etc) when you next need to clean the dryer ducts. I’d suggest at least yearly if not twice a year.
If you’re really worried about getting the wall/floor duct cleaned properly and completely you could always hire a professional to come out with all their fancy tools each year or try a DIY dryer cleaning kit. I can’t say that I’ve ever tried such a cleaning kit but it might be well worth the investment, especially for somebody like my mother-in-law… always doing the laundry but never cleaning the ducts. 😉
Remember, it’s an easy fix that should only take 15-20 minutes and could save a life!
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