Venting a Dryer to the Garage

[Phil]

What are the pros and cons of venting a clothes dryer (electric) into a one car garage (door usually closed, under a living space)?

Thanks in advance

Phil

[Edwin Pawlowski]

No pros, only cons. Possibly/probably illegal

Rust on anything stored in there, fumes (either flammable or deadly co) backing up into the dryer. Do the job right.

[Kyle Boatright]

Pro's... Can be simple to do, depending on the layout of your house.

Con's. High levels of humidity in the garage will cause tools, automobiles, appliances, garage door openers, light switches, light fixtures, and everything else to rust or otherwise prematurely fail. In addition, the high moisture level could cause mildew, dry rot, long-term structural problems, drywall failures, and other nasty ramifications.

Conclusion. Don't do it unless you're trying to get even with someone who has done you wrong in a big way.

[David Efflandt]

You may tend to get moisture (or frost) and lint accumulation. Electric sparks could be dangerous if you get fuel fumes from the likes of lawnmower, etc. It may also be dangerous if anyone unknowingly replaced it with a gas dryer.

Don't know of any pros unless you work on your car while drying clothes in winter. But then the electic spark thing may still be an issue if you spill or have open fuel in an enclosed space.

[m Ransley]

pro; your car will smell nice Cons ; already listed and dust

[tbasc]

As Ed Pawlowski says, it violates building code. There is supposed to be a one hour separation between garage & house. No one has mentioned lint.

TB

[Red Neckerson]

wrote

Sh*t!!!!

That means I'd have to get up an hour earlier on workdays and then get home an hour later.

F*ck that! I'll just park in front of the house if my garage has to be that far away.....

[Jeff Wisnia]

WTF is a "one hour separation"???

Skip the jokes, was he *trying* to say somethging meaningful?

Jeff

[Bell]

Look up "Fire Wall"

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

[m Ransley]

Im sure 1 hr meant Fire Wall rating.

[Red Neckerson]

I'll be damb-duh! Learn something new every day!!

[Phil]

Thanks to all of you for the great input. Clearly, venting the dryer into the garage is not a good idea, regardless of the legality or code-permittedness of it.

So, the followup question ... any suggestions for rectifying the problem that I've got?

The vent run currently goes up from the base of the wall, about 8 or 9 feet then across the attic space over the garage and on to the outside of the house, another 12 or so feet total horizontal run. There's 2 90 degree bends in there, one where it turns vertical from the base of the wall, and another where it turns horizontal to go across the attic.

Problems include somewhat excessive lint buildup in the vent, at least compared to the buildup in shorter runs that I've lived with; excessive drying time and (I'm sure) commensurate shortened life expectancy of the dryer; and difficulty cleaning such a long run on a regular basis. Can't eliminate the horizontal and take the vertical run straight up through the roof because it'd be going right through my bedroom.

I'd really like to shorten this run. It just seems excessive. Is it?

Thanks, again ... Phil

[willshak]

On 12/11/2004 4:35 PM US(ET), Phil took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

straight

I suppose that this dryer is not up against an outside wall and you can't go directly through the wall?

[Joseph Meehan]

Assuming you don't have a shorter path to the ouside, I would suggest a booster fan designed to work with dryers. I would consider that a a distant second to having a short direct path, but better than the alturnatives.

[Phil]

so feet

straight

Wish it was. Unfortunately it's a choice of 1)up and over the garage (as is now) 2) into the garage (ruled that out after responses here) or up and across 3 other rooms (even further horizontal run than going through the garage).

Poorly designed tract style home.

Someone else suggested a supplemental fan in the ductwork ... I'll have to look into that, never knew such a thing existed.

Phil

[Dan]

Not allowed by code. The 1-hour seperation referred to by a previous poster is not correct unless you are discussing a multi-family structure.. Code requires at least 1/2" gypsum board on the garage side and a door of 20 minute fire rating or equivelant. A 1-hour seperation would be somewhat more stringent.

Dan

[Phisherman]

Venting a dryer to the garage will add moisture, heat and dust to the space. For most situations that's not a good thing.

[JerryMouse]

Time for Yankee ingenuity here.

Run a wire from the dryer to your garage door opener.

Dryer on - door opens. Dryer off - door closes.

[effi]

can the dryer be relocated?

maybe into the garage, vented through the wall directly outside?

[ameijers]

(snip)

is now) 2) into

look into that,

How far above grade is the interior floor level where the dryer is? Is it above finished space, or open joists? Although not ideal, you CAN go DOWN through the floor, and then sideways to nearest wall, if that is a shorter run than you have now. A tenant added that to a rental house my family used to own, and it seems to work fine. No idea if code allows it, and going down with a 'chimney' just seemed counterintuitive to me, but it was the only practical route in this case.

aem sends....