re-routing a dryer vent

[RD]

My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the ___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls, right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD

[SQLit]

Really does not matter gas or electric for the vent. New house? Call the inspectors where it was built and or check other homes to see where they vent. If yours is different then call the builder and have it corrected.

Putting 90 elbows in dryer runs is a REALLY BAD idea. Unless you plan on putting in a booster fan.

Consider going straight up through the roof. At least 5 inch pipe. My last home was that way

The poster who suggested check the dryer specs had a great idea.

[tbasc]

To add to Bozarth & SQLit, the present venting arrangement may be a violation of code. I'd check with your Building Official / Inspector.

Use metal duct, a code requirement in many locations.

Use the most direct path possible. Allow for clean out, particularly if you vent up.

Going "around a door" isn't clear. If that means running the duct up and over, heed Bozarth. TB

[Duane Bozarth]

Check on the limit of exhaust length--it'll be in the owners' manual. I think something less than 10-ft is about all that is supposed to be used, if I recall.

How/where depends mostly on the location of the dryer wrt to outside wall(s) and construction details not provided...

[Phil Munro]

Is there a safety code question here? I always thought that an attached garage required special drywall (5/8") and doors, so that the garage is air tight from the house. I could envision fumes, CO, from the garage area migrating into the house backwards through a dryer vent when a gas appliance in the house (furnace or water heater) is drawing air for combustion. --Phil

RD wrote:

[FDR]

Yeah, fire regulations.

I could envision fumes, CO, from

[FDR]

Its should be the last thing you do as you don't really want to add another hole to your roof and a way for water to get in.

[Beachcomber]

Something is fishy here. A gas dryer vented into a garage is going to put potentially dangerous products-of-combustion into the garage in addition to all the damp, dusty air. I would think that this would be a serious code violation that the builder should deal with. You wouldn't vent an ordinary gas furnace into a garage. Why would you do this with a gas dryer?

If the dryer is at ground level and you have a crawlspace or basement, I would think you would want to route it down and out to the nearest wall.

Beachcomber

[Joseph Meehan]

Hopefully it was not code were you live, but some places don't have very good codes. My only comments are:

Use metal duct (not corrugated) and not plastic! Use as short a path as possible (see dryer specs) If it seems impossible, call in an experienced professional. They have the experience to find answers where none are apparent.

[RD]

Thank you all for your input. You were right to suspect a code violation, as did I. I spoke to the local building inspector who tells me that the code specifies that the vent be to the outside. Apparently there's a loophole - an attached garage can be interpreted as being 'outside' the home. A lazy builder with no integrity like mine, could lean on this loophole. The inspector tells me that he does not permit this, but the builder could have done it after he was gone. My locality in SE Pennsylvania requires:

- No longer than a 25ft. run for the vent pipe. (unless your dryer has a cfm rating that can handle a longer run)

- Each 90 degree turn in the route counts as 5 feet of the run.

- If you exceed the 25 ft you must install a booster fan.

- Smooth surface metal ducts (not corrugated) must be used.

- No screws can be used in fastening the pipe together. Foil-backed tape must seal joints in the pipe.

I will probably drill through my laundry room floor to run the 4 in pipe along the floor joists in the basement and then vent out the nearest wall. This would put my vent less than a foot above ground level, howver, so I'll need to find a critter cage to put around the vent.

[Joseph Meehan]

Good code.