I am trying to run a dryer vent the old one was all flex and the run was way to long. The problem is the dryer is located in a closet in the middle of the house with the furnace and water heater leaving all kinds of obsticals with the vents and gas and water lines in the crawl space. The closest wall is 17 feet with bends I cannot keep it under the recommended 25 feet. Accepting that it is going to have to be a couple.feet too long I ran into another problem is it's going to run perpendicular to the floor joists unless I run it in the way or add more bends at the end and drill through the floor joist it will exhaust only a few inches from the ground. I believe the code is 12 inches from the ground. it is also going to come out next to a window and the Ac. it is 3 feet from the Ac and
3 feet down from the window but it is only 18 inces over from the window I have considered going through the ceiling and out through the eve since the ceilings are only 8 feet but everything I have read says not to go through the attic.
relocate dryer, although there are vent boosters for dryers. i stumbled ont o that many years ago. but decided to relocate the washer and dryer. using hard metal pipe helps too to cut air resistance..with such a long run clean ing the lines regurally helps too.
i cut drying time here by swapping the washer and dryer, so the vent line i s just a bit shorter
Crappy setup. Unless you are in a no snow area, you want to be more than a few inches from the ground.
After many years, I relocated our machines and reduced the vent from about 25' to 7'. Huge difference in drying time. No more having to clear the vent frequently too.
replying to Derek, derek wrote: Unfortunately I cant relocate them the way the house is laid out there is no where else to put them. I currently have the dryer blowing under the house and i know that's not good. thanks for the tip on the booster Ill look into it
It sounds like no matter what you do you'll have long duct runs with several 90s...which means you'll have to inspect and clean out the vent system periodically. Personally, given the choice between attics and crawl spaces, I prefer attics.
I think that is only so snow won't cover the outlet, so it doesn't apply in the summer, or if you don't get 12" of snow or don't do drying when there is 12" of snow there, or if you go out and brush away enough of the snow so that there's a half inch of air below the vent. Air is not very viscous and a half-inch is enough. The hot air will melt more fwiw.
Again that only matters if you're using your AC while you're drying your clothes, and then it will waste a little electricity since the warm air will slow down the heat removal at the condenser. The AC cycles while the dryer runs constantly for what, 30 minutes, and I think its exhaust air dissipates pretty quickly, so how much time will they be running together?
Do you leave that window open when it's hot out or you're running the AC? I think that rule is only so you won't suck hot air into the house. Unless someone will tell me that gas dryers have CO in the exhaust. If that were a problem, wouldn't it be a bigger problem in the laundry room itself?
Same thing.
Does the eave have screening on it? If so, you may have to clean off the lint once in a while.
Not sure but I think that for some reason I generate very little lint. There is substantial lint in the lint filter, but after 33 years, none hanging out of the outdoor vent, like I've seen at some other houses.
And the previous owner was using just a vinyl sheet tube, though it only goes up 7 feet to the vent which is right there. Yes, they say I should have replaced it with metal, but when the vinyl finally had a hole in it, 6" long, I saw between no and very little lint inside. After 33 years.
Maybe this has something to do with the composition of the laundry. The shirts and washable pants are polyester and cotton, the socks partially synthetic, the underwear mostly cotton, blankets are washed not very often. And it's just me and before me another single guy, so maybe this is like 9 years for a family of four.
Replacing the belt on the dryer now and would be done by now but needed to go up stairs for rags or paper towels to wipe out all the dust inside the machine. It's not really hurting anything but that's what people do. Amazing how few parts there are in a clothes dryer.
replying to Micky, derek wrote: Thank for all the replies im getting closer to figuring this out.
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I just found what looks like an amazing product that eliminates my concerns about the length of the run and the height. Now my only concern is the location of the hole im not worried about air getting back in the window because i never open that one. What I am worried about it passing inspection when we go to sell the house. From what I read the opening has to be 3 feet in any direction from any window or ac unit. while its
3 feet from the ac and 3 feet down from the window its only 18 inches over where i would like to drill the hole and its a brick wall so I only want to do this once. Im thinking about just doing it and hoping i can get away with it.
FWIW - I too have the same issue althought my run is through a basement. My run was pushing 28'. But using rigid vent pipe through a powered booster my drying has been normal. Here's a link to the brand that I use:
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