If your clothes are taking longer to dry, your laundry room feels hotter than normal, or your dryer seems to be working harder than it used to, you might assume it’s time for a new appliance.
In reality, the problem often isn’t the dryer at all.
It’s the dryer vent.
If your dryer is taking too long to dry clothes, the problem is often not the dryer itself, but a restricted or clogged dryer vent.
Many homeowners are told they need a new dryer, when in reality the appliance is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do — it just can’t breathe.
Earlier this year we had a call to a home where the dryer was taking 4 cycles to dry each load! The fact it was taking this long would have meant the electricity costs were through the roof! The dryer vent was missing all the Louvre’s so it was a nice place to store their winter supply of food and it kept warm whilst the dryer was running.
Screens should never be used on dryer vents for the simple reason they prevent lint escaping. Whilst this does not happen straight away it does so slowly over time, damp air escapes first followed by lint that sticks to the dampness inside the dryer vent and if a screen or grill is fitted the lint starts to bond to it too. Over a period of time this then forms a lint plug like you see in the photo.
Some people put screens over the end cap of their dryer vent to prevent birds or critters from moving in. Whilst this may seem to make sense, the truth is it is not the best of decisions as once the vent gets plugged at the end the lint has no where else to go. Just like cholesterol it builds up over time and starts to restrict the airflow thus lint starts to accumulate inside the dryer itself. Lint starts to settle inside the dryer cabinet and on or around the dryers heating element.
So the screen on the end of the dryer vent caused a lint plug, this then causes the lint to accumulate more through the dryer vent and inside the dryer. The lint inside the dryer is what causes dryer fires, the heating element glows red and reaches temperatures as high as 190 degrees fahrenheit all it needs is for a clump of lint to sit on the element and you can have a dryer fire on your hands.
The dryer should only be run when someone is in the house, also you should not run the dryer when sleeping at night this is not to scare you but just to draw attention to the fact there are hidden dangers in the home and the dryer is one of them.
