Clothes Dryer Vent Issue

[Hawker]

We've been putting up with this for year's, but something has gotta change so needing ideas from the experts!!
Our house is built on a "slab", and all the HVAC vents, water etc are under concrete! Builder ran the dryer vent in the slab as well which woulda been great except for the fact that it got stepped on / crushed when the concrete got poured thereby making the vent un-usable! So,,,,,,,,,,,, the builder runs a vent up inside the wall dividing the Utility room and furnace closet, straight up through the attic and out through the roof, about a 15 foot or so rise!

While it has "worked" per-se, it takes forever and a day for clothes to dry! Entry to the utility room is from the kitchen and garage, basically in the center of the home. No other "vents" available to tie into as I'm total electric! Any ideas to make this pathetic system work better??

[Hot Runr Guy]

Steve,
What about a dryer vent "booster", like this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fantech-DBF1...item4ab97d7585

HRG

[cyber16]

If you use/used ANY type of drier fabric softener sheets, i'd suggest you make sure that the vent tube/pipe is 100% clear, those sheets leave a sticky residue within the vent system that collects lint and thus restricts air flow.
Cloths driers are near the top of the list for the cause of home fires.

[ozarkeyes]

Looks like HRG found just what you need. Designed for your exact situation. Will pay for itself and probably cut your electric bill down, because it would help dry clothes in a normal time where now it takes, what, twice a long.

First, before you buy anything we need to check how the airflow is coming out the vent, turn on your dryer and check airflow, should be kicking good cfm's. Birds like to build nets in these things.

If your using flex venting trash it and get hard venting, flex venting restricts air flow. Don't use screws, tape only here, screws collect lint on the inside.

Venting might need to be cleaned, might be full of lint or other debris.

Check your lint filter, clean the lint off, now run water over top of filter, if water sits on top this means the wax in fabric sheets are clogging the filter thus restricting air flow.

Always clean the lint filter after each load or minimum every second load.

[Jerryv]

As others pointed out, the first thing to do is make sure everything is clean.

Here is a good page on the subject:

http://www.appliance411.com/faq/dryer-vent-length.shtml

Jerry

[Stripehunter]

IMO, you're probably better off not having that vent in a slab anyways. I'd think the cold concrete would have a tendency to condense water out of the dryer air, and with the duct running below the dryer and exhaust vent, that water would collect in the middle of the run and cause you a ton of headaches. Still, they should have installed a booster with that kind of run.

[Jack G]

My son's house in Alabama has the wash room in the center of the house and the vent runs a long way to the outside. Drying clothes took a long time. He installed an auxillary blower or fan to help move the vented air. Sorry that I don't know the details of what he did.

Jack

[Justfishing]

A 15 foot rise on a straight run is nothing. Check a few things. 4inch solid metal pipe. Are there any elbows, each elbow is equivalent of 5 feet of pipe. Add up the length plus 5 feet for each elbow. Max run with elbows should be less than 25 feet.

Next step is to turn the dryer on and check the air flow. It should be good and strong. If it isnt then pull the dryer out and turn it on and check the air flow.



We serviced a dryer vent for a retired couple. It went up and out the roof. The lady said she did the same load of big fluffy towels each Saturday. It was taking 80+ minutes to dry. After cleaning the vent it took 40 minutes.

[Just One More Cast]

Several customers I've seen are using pvc instead of metal. I haven't seen a melted one yet. The temp should be 150 when measured coming out of the dryer.