I just got done taking apart/back together my dryer vent holder. I could not believe how much lint was sitting in the shaft drum area. Since October is fire prevention month I figured I would ask the ? just incase some of you wonderful mamas needed a reminder. If you have never done it before there should be a couple of screws holding the frame in place just unscrew and either reach in and pull out the lint or use a hose from your vac, also if you can get behind your dryer and check the vent hose. Not everything gets blown out of the hose when the dryer is running. The dryer is a major factor in house fires, also dont for get to check your fire alarms.
thanks to everyone giving the extra advice. The other important thing is to have as short as possible vent hose. ours fortunantly is less than 2 feet so its really easy to clean.
I empty the screen everytime I use it. My husband and I clean out the hose at least once a month. And we clean the flaps to the outside at least once a month. That's the entire vent system for the setup we have.
I clean it once a year. Most newer dryers will actually shut down if it gets clogged. I found that out the expensive way after my kids were playing outside and bent in the vent outside. 85 dollars for the guy to come out, pull the vent out and leave. :(
We also have a heat sensor in our laundry room. Fires from dryers actually build up a lot of heat long before they catch the house on fire and create smoke. A heat sensor can limit the damage to at best the dryer, at worst the laundry room. Much better than a huge chunk of the house. Plus since most laundry rooms are off the kitchen it takes a lot longer to hit the smoke detector which tends to be near the bedrooms and away from the kitchen because a lot of people burn dinner.
Yep!
I have a brush I use to clean it regularly.
And not only the vent but the duct from the dryer to the outside as well.
The amount of lint that builds up is amazing!
When we were growing up our Nana use to use dryer lint as stuffing for rag dolls for us.
If you don't want to use it for anything you can leave it in bushes for birds to use for nesting.
If you wear/wash mostly cotton/wool (natural fibers), you can dig lint into your garden or compost heap.
I clean the lint trap regularly, but not the vent. Why? I CAN'T GET TO IT. This house is so jerry rigged it's not even funny. Some previous idiot tenant poured concrete over something else in the basement, so we can't get to the vent without a jack hammer. My landlord has been notified, and he's sent people out to look for it, but we haven't gotten it fixed yet. If only it was as simple as checking the vent...
Great reminder though!!
Just a reminder, before you do anything in the back of your dryer please unplug it from the wall. I had a great niece electrocuted when she got behind the dryer.
If you have a longer hose (like on a 2nd floor laundry) or basically if your dryer doesn't vent directly out the back wall that it's sitting on then you should have it professionally cleaned every 3-4 years too.... those home kits just can't snake long enough to really get a longer hose cleaned.
I just had it done and my drying time went from 1.2 hours (obviously it was pretty full!!) to 40 mins. I clean the vent every time and I have also used a snake kit ..... but nothing really improved until I had it professionally done! Vent wizard was who we used.
I don't know how to find what you are talking about, but I'll put it on the to-do list.....THANK YOU!
What a great reminder. I think we will make that one of our projects. I homeschool the kids so we can have a day of fire prevention. I noticed we still have a fire alarm hanging by its wires too. oops.
We need to...the one that leads outside...However, ours is on the second floor so it's a bit tricky...but necessary soon....
