How To Clean Your Clothes Dryer Vent (with pictures)

Question

I read a home fire safety article recently and it inspired me to clean the hot air exhaust vent on our clothes dryer. I also figured it would help the appliance run more efficiently and cost us less money to use.

I used a wet/dry shop vacuum, but just doing the cleaning by hand works really well too. I took pictures of the process and created a quick guide.

Here's the gallery -

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There were some small holes around the part of the hose that connects to the outside vent, so I used metal HVAC duct tape to create a better seal. That should prevent any of the hot air from entering the house and making the air conditioner work harder.

I hope someone finds it to be useful.

Cheers, Paul Michaels Ft. Lauderdale, FL

WW · Accepted Answer

>Paul.... Get rid of that ribbed flex hose. Smooth 4 inch aluminum vent pipe is less restriction. Faster drying time and longer electric heater life. I did appliance repair for 40 years. ww

nirmal · Answer

responding to Michaels wrote:-------------------------------------Really useful posting on cleaning clothes dryer vent. I did not know thehazard involved in dryer vent. After reading your article i am inclined tocheck my dryer vent and inspect for any holes. Hopeful i should not findany because my clothes dyer is a new one.Nirmal Patil    _      _        _                         | |_ | |__  (_) ___  (_) ___   _ __ ___   _   _ | __|| '_  | |/ __| | |/ __| | '_ ` _  | | | || |_ | | | || |__  | |__  | | | | | || |_| | __||_| |_||_||___/ |_||___/ |_| |_| |_| __, |                                          |___/       _                       _                      ___ (_)  __ _  _ __    __ _ | |_  _   _  _ __  ___ / __|| | / _` || '_   / _` || __|| | | || '__|/ _ __ | || (_| || | | || (_| || |_ | |_| || |  |  __/|___/|_| __, ||_| |_| __,_| __| __,_||_|   ___|         |___/

jamesgangnc · Answer

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=A0 =A0 =A0 |___/=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0I stick the end of my gas powered yard blower in ours occasionally.

Mikepier · Answer

Ditto on that. I replaced my flex hose to rigid and the drying timewas cut by a lot.

FatterDumber& Happier Moe · Answer

>   If you can find the right sized cat, they work pretty well also.

Jules Richardson · Answer

I pull the whole back off ours occasionally - it's amazing how much stuff gets caught in the channel which runs between the drum and the suction fan. Performance is noticably better each time.

I've got around 12' of ribbed flex hose on ours... one day I'll get around to replacing it with rigid pipe!

cheers

Jules

RicodJour · Answer

I would think that it would be one of your priorities.R

RicodJour · Answer

Why waste time trying to find the right sized one?  They're easy totrim to fit.R

DerbyDad03 · Answer

Once I started using a front load washer, my dry time was reduced substantially.

If I replace my ribbed flex hose with rigid, I'll probably just have to show my wet clothes to the dryer and they'll be done!

How To Clean Your Clothes Dryer Vent (with pictures)

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