How much propane do you use?

says...
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I would agree with you that the lint trap should trap lint and not let it pass through. But the parts diagram that came with my drier also indicates that air from the drier passes through the trap. If the trap is clogged with lint, airflow is slowed - more and more drastically, as the trap becomes more clogged. Since better cleaning of the trap shortened drying time, I theorized that better airflow equated to more efficient drying. The possibility remains that even with shorter drying time, I am somehow NOT saving any electricity: I have no effective way to quantify the actual power usage of the drier before and after the change in "technique".
But, I'm into cars, and I know that a clogged air filter on a car is bad. I KNOW an internal combustion engine requires airflow, and I theorize that since the drier is moving air, it also requires airflow. I KNOW an internal combustion engine should have an air filter to prevent crap from getting into it, but when it gets clogged, the engine can't get as much air as it wants and will not run as efficiently as it should. You could run without an air filter to get even better airflow. A lot of drag racers do so - speed is more important than engine life. But most of us are better off with an air filter in place to protect the engine; getting down to the next traffic signal a hundredth of second faster than the next guy doesn't win us anything (OK, despite the way a lot of people seem to drive, ha ha). And, you don't want to run your drier without a lint trap, even if that gets you an even faster drying time, because that could lead to the vent pipe getting clogged and causing worse drying times (and potential fire hazard?? <-- wild supposition here)
Anyway, all I can say is that cleaning the lint trap better shortened drying time for me. The drier's instructions say to clean the lint trap, it seemed possible that cleaning it better was better for the drier. It actually happened, it was measurable, and that was enough for me. I only measured the "before" time once, and the "after" time twice, so this is obviously NOT scientifically valid. On the other hand, if a whole bunch of people successfully repeat the experiment, the theory becomes more valid. In fact, if others can measure more accurately than I did, we could all get a better idea of the upper and lower bounds of the potential drying time savings. If nobody on the planet gets any savings from a cleaner lint trap, then my theory has a value somewhere between cold fusion and phlogiston. :-)
You could also run a counter experiment. Never clean the lint trap and see how well the drier works. The trap would still stop lint, but alas, would also stop more and more air as it became more clogged.
It wasn't really a huge deal for me. I mean, my biggest electric bill this year was $53 (and yes, I run central air, a TV, fridge - all the luxuries of life that I like to consider necessities). What the heck, as Dad used to say, "it couldn't hurt" to give it a try.
steve