dryer vent into basement?

[caledon]

Just wondering....

I have to hook up my new dryer. The way the old one was hooked up, the vent goes into the floor, goes across a short distance to the outside. I am planning on replacing the plastic vent hose with metal. However, since this is a century home and the basement tends towards the cold side during the winter....I was thinking...that maybe it would be a way of heating the basement, just leave the hose open down there, rather than connecting it to the outside. Is this a stupid idea? If so...why?

thanks

[Lawrence]

Is it a gas or electric dryer?

[EXT]

Gas MUST be vented outside, it forms a "chimney" for the gas burner in the dryer.

All that moisture and lint will not be good for the basement. If you have winter and the basement is cold it will condense all over the place. This could cause mould and decay in the wood framing. Don't do it.

[roger61611]

Mine vents into the garage (not good) and this leaves a layer of condensation all over, even when it's very cold out. I'd vote for outside venting.

[BobK207]

This topic / issue has been discussed many times in the group. I suggest you search the group archive for a complete answer.

Short answer

when you say vent I assume you mean the moist heated air from the close drying not the combustion vent from a gas dryer.

Combustion vent must got outside, dryer air SHOULD be vent outside but that said

My mom's house has the electric dryer in the garage & vents into the garage (since 1959). We control lint with a stocking over the end of the vent goose neck (visible so we can easily assess condition & repalce). Since the house is in OC, CA moisture has never been an issue.....in 45 years I have never seen any condensation due to this situation.

Depending on locale YMMV

cheers Bob

[Joseph Meehan]

Do you really want to vent all that moisture into your basement? I might add that you would also be venting lint into the basement. That combination should be great at growing mold.

[Tom The Great]

imho:

Converting plastic vent to metal, very smart idea.

As to venting directly into the basement, some concerns come to mind.

1. Are you creating a Carbon Monoxide danger?

1. Are you creating a humidity problem?

2. Is this a bandaid on the real problem, you need to upgrade your homes insulation, and envelope.

Just asking....

later,

tom @

[Craven Morehead]

[Rich256]

With a gas dryer, yes outside as others say.

With an electric it somewhat depends on where you live. Many exhaust inside during the winter to raise the humidity in the house and take advantage of the extra heat. If venting inside you need to filter out the lint.

Some use a nylon stocking for a filter.

They even sell Tee's so you can switch from inside to outside. Many of the filters you see in hardware stores don't do a very efficient job of filtering.

[emailaddress]

I vent my ELECTRIC dryer into the house all winter. I put a nylon stocking on the end to catch lint. My house needs moisture in winter or my skin cracks, so this saves using a humidifier as much. In summer I reconnect to the pipe going outdoors. (Yeah, I plug the outside pipe in winter with a rag).

NEVER vent a GAS dryer indoors. Carbon monoxide and gas fumes are why.

[mrsgator88]

My old house had the dryer in the basement, and a vent with a door so I could vent outside or inside. I was told if I vented inside it would warm the basement for "free". So I tried it. The basement had a drywall ceiling, and moisture was accumulating very rapidly on the drywall. It just seemed like a good recipe for growing bad mold, so I never used it like that again.

S

[tnom]

Be inventive. Attach aluminum heat absorbing fins and radiate some heat into the house.

[Tim Fischer]

I think you'd be crazy to vent ANY dryer inside. Pick up a laundry basket full of laundry fresh out of the washer. Now dry it. Put it back in the basket and pick it up again. Way lighter, right? Well all that moisture is what will end up in your basement/wherever else you'd be venting to.

-Tim

[Ook]

I vented into my basement for a while. Ended up with a lint mess all over the place, even with lint trap. I also had a house in Vegas for several years with the drier venting into the garage. After a while I realized that a lot of the metal items in the garage were rusting from the moisture. Since then, I always vent outside. Between the lint and the moisture, venting anywhere else is just not a good idea. YMMV.

[caledon]

it is an electric dryer. sorry should have mentioned that

Lawrence wrote:

[caledon]

OK well, that resolves that. I certainly do not want to cause mold or rott in the basement. I am in canada, and it has already gotten very cold and has snowed. Condensation would definitely be a problem. So outside venting will be the thing.

thanks for the info.

Ook wrote:

[Ook]

In your case you would just get ice all over the place LOL. Until spring, then it melts and you have a foot of lint and water in the basement :-P

[Mark]

so if you run a long metal vent, it can act as a heat exchanger and you can have the best of bpoth worlds, the lint and moisture will go outside but the heat can escape from the metal vent pipe and heat the basement..

Mark

[Malcolm Hoar]

I thought about that. However, I think a significant amount of water will condense in that vent. You'll probably need to allow for drainage and it's likely corrosion will still be an issue. I'm not sure the amount of heat recovered is going to be worth all of these issues.

[Goedjn]

Except that then you have to clean the vent-pipe every second load, on account of the dryer doesn't have enough oomf to clear the pipe, and unless you've got a moderately high-end damper at the end, cold air leaks back inside whenever you're NOT using the dryer, driving your heat exchanger backwards.

And the pipe rusts out, because of all the water condensing on the inside.