Where oh where to put an ouside dryer vent from below ground

[Wally]

My dryer is in my basement laundry room which is below ground. There is not enough room/space to drill a 4" round opening to (or from) the outside for a dryer vent. At the very top of the basement wall (which is made of cinder blocks) there is a 9" header I think you call it. Even this header wood is mostly below ground level.

There is a window on the wall behind the dryer but the window is just below ground level. The window leads out to a window well on my patio which is covered by a steel grate.

One option which I really don't want to do is to take out one of the two side-by-side pieces of window glass and replace it with plexyglass with a cut out for the 4" round dryer vent. This would route the hot air out into the window well but, over time, all of the dryer lint would coat the inside bricks of the window well. Probably the outside of the remaining window glass too. There'd be no good way to clean it if that happened.

Most all drier vent tubes are flexible aluminum or plastic in a 4" diameter. There is a possibility that if I didn't have to use the 4" venting pipe/tube I'd be able to drill a small hole in the wood header near the window. But even if I did, the vent would be just above the patio slate.

There's got to be a way to vent my dryer to the outside, but my basement is entirely below ground and there's no path to get outside other than through the top of the header. Are there smaller diameter hoses that I could use to dead-end into a smaller vent cover that could be mounted outside? Any, and I mean ANY, suggestions are most appreciated.

Thanks, Walter

[james]

Look again at what you call header ( technically called an _outside rim joist_). If that is below ground level, the vent is the least of your worries (think termites & or water infiltration, rot etc.) You say the window is just below ground level, the outside rim joist will run above the window on the sill plate (flat 2"x more than likely 8"). The hole can be cut in the outside rim joist (the upright 2"x material).

[wayne]

you could put any size hole in the side that equaled the same size as a 4" .

What kind of heat do you have no furnace in the basement ? What have you been doing. Where does your phone power come into the house?

If you can get the vent outside you could always use PVC and bury it so it came out someplace else and use and inverted J for the vent

Wayne

[no useful info]

gas?

[tbasc]

James is, I think, correct about problems with wood below ground. Wayne has a good idea that will, I think, take some working out. Check your vertical dimensions again. TB

[gary]

I was thinking along the same lines as wayne. It you made your hole and then put 4" (or bigger) of CPVC through it and then filled the space around the pipe with hydraulic cement and then sent it wherever you wanted underground and then come up - remembering distance means air resistance keep it to a reasonable length. Then put your tin from the dryer up to the CPVC. Don't use CPVC right from the dryer.

I did the same thing to get a water drain out to my detached garage. Before backfilling tar the heck out of the area around the pipe as it comes through the concrete.

[jstp]

One solution would be to put a wider window well outside and have a 4" hole drilled just beside the window. This is the solution I used at my place. The lint collects mostly at the bottom of the well, quite easy to clean.

[scott_z500]

Whatever you do, just keep in mind that you are probably going to want to clean it periodically.

[someone]

Will the walter flow to the basment through the pipe if there is a heavy rain storm when the well gets flooded?

Will you have to shovel off the snow if the outlet is near the grade and house?

jstp wrote:

[Walter Cohen]

I have a gas hot water heating system (the registers just contain fins and hot water is pushed through pipes to the fins to heat the air).

Phone lines come into the basement also but a good 20 feet from the dryer.

If you are saying I could make any size opening (i.e. 2" - 3") then maybe I'll look for a reducing coupling at my local HD to attach to the 4" vent flexible tubing.

I like the idea off an inverted J. The opening would come very close to the patio bluestone slate and I'd prefer to have the hot air/lint get exhausted several inches off of the patio slate. I'd have to rig some sort of closing mechanism with a screen to keep out varmints/insects.

Thanks, Walter

[Edwin Pawlowski]

No, you NEVER reduce the dryer vent size. A 4" round vent covers 12.5 sq. in. You can use a 3" x 4" square to get the same results. Or 2 x 6 1/2.

Be sure the vent will not be blocked by snow either.

[w_tom]

If the masonry foundation does not extend above earth, then you have serious termite and other insect infestation threat. Wood floor joists must butt end on the outside wall ABOVE earth ground. Fix the grading.

In the meantime, a dryer vent rising up that high may eventually create a potential fire hazard if done in plastic. That vent is best installed in aluminum - not plastic.

You cannot reduce the 4 inch pipe. In fact, the longer that pipe, then the large diameter that vent pipe must be.

The vent must be high enough to remain clear of snow. You may just have to bring the vent up through next floor, then out through wall there. Then build a wall about that vent pipe on the higher floor.

D> My dryer is in my basement laundry room which is below ground. There

[Walter Cohen]

No, what I'm saying is the piece that protrudes to the outside air. I don't have enough room for a 4" round opening and the square vent hood which must be 5x5, so I was thinking to butt the 4" round vent tubing coming from the dryer to a smaller connector at the wall. If this is not acceptable then I will not do it.

By the way, what I've been doing over the years is venting the electric dryer into the laundry room and the end of the dryer tubing has a lint filter on it.

[v]

Your thinking may be too limited. Run the vent into the 1st floor of the house, and then out through the wall at any height you please. What rooms are above where the dryer is now, and/or can either the dryer or the vent pipe be routed to where there is a closet, base cabinets, a room corner, etc. in the floor above. (Unless you have

2x6 walls like I do, in which case the 4" vent can run entirely inside the wall cavity.)

Well, you said you wanted any suggestion....

-v.

Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

[gary]

Yes it will. We had a flash flood rain this summer that lasted 2 hours. Water filled my window wells and 1/4 of the way up the window so if you had an opening there wow. I got about 2" of water in the bsmt that we were pushing toward the drain with snow shovels. If we had an open hole like a dryer vent at that height we would not have been looking at inches of water but many feet of water.

Good point someone.

[gary]

No by any size I meant bigger never go smaller that is a big fire hazard.

[gary]

Wherever the pipe is it must be 4" or larger, if it is a long run then you must go larger. You should not be venting moist air inside the house. There are health concerns with this including mould problems.

[nielloeb]

An system is made that lets you vent to the inside of your house. You have to clean the filter often, and hot air is blown through it. Try Froogle or Improvements Catalog or similar places. On another note, you say your basement is entirely below ground and there is no path to get outside other than through the header or window. If you don't have a door to the outside from your basement, you have a major fire hazard.

[v]

Dim wit, he already HAD one of those. He mentioned it in his 1st post. For his ELECTRIC dryer. Now he has GAS. A "filter" isn't going to take the CO2 or CO out of the products of combustion of his GAS burning dryer.

LOTS of basements have no direct door to the outside. It is completely legal. For this and other reasons, one is therefore not supposed to have occupancies like bedrooms down there, but there is no unusual hazard for 'normal' basement uses.

Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

[nielloeb]

Not to start a flame war (and I won't flame you), but I see nothing in Walter's original post about gas or electric or an existing inside vent. Maybe you are seeing a different USENET feed than I. It happens. No need to call anyone a dimwit concerning anything.

I would not want a basement with one exit because of the fire hazard. I didn't say this was illegal or nonexistent.