When Was the Last Time You Cleaned Your Dryer Vents?

Most people never consider clearing their vents.

The problem is they back up with the lint that is not trapped in the dryer lint filter. This can cause a very real potential fire hazard. It can also make your drying times run longer and longer till it becomes unable to really dry your clothes at all forcing you to repeat cycles and waste money on electricity.

While you can have a company come to clean your vents and it is relatively inexpensive (All Day Air Cooling is happy to help) you can also do it yourself with relative ease. Let us teach you how.

You should try and clean your vents at least once a year for a single occupant and more often the larger the family. Even as much as 3 times a year for a family of 4.

First of course clean the dryer lint catcher inside your machine. Most of us are familiar with the slide out slide in tray. Pull the lint from it and toss it away.

Second get a dryer lint brush (they are a long thin metal pole with a long rough bristled brush on almost half of the pole. It’s thin and flexible. Take that brush and gently insert it down into the space where your lint filter goes. Scrub in an up and down motion along the length of the slotted opening. What that does is loosen any stuck lint in the filter cage.

Next, you will want to slide your dryer out from the wall so you can access the back of it easily. You will see a big round silver wrinkled looking tube. That’s the exhaust. That is what needs to be cleared. You should be able to see how to unfasten it from the back. Do so. Depending on how clean or dirty it is lint may start to come out immediately. You then detach the other end (if possible) and take the length of it outside.

To clean it you will need a lint clearing tool. It’s a long flexible wire with a brush on one end and a handle on the other. Feed the brush end in and just keep pushing till you snake it all the way through. Push the brush back and forth numerous times with some rigor and it will free the debris clearing it from the tube.

Remember to also snake with either the brush or cord the inside internal pipe areas as well as you can before reattaching the hose. There may be an outside cage at the end of the pipe at the exterior of the home as well. Make sure to clean that.

Once everything has been cleared put it all back together securing and fastening everything well, then turn your dryer on and run it for a bit to blow out any leftover debris that as previously loosened.

Too much of a hassle? We get it! Call us, we will do it for you. All Day Air Cooling & Heating. www.alldayaircooling.com 239-357-0727.

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