Clothes Dryer Vent Issue

[rego]

Air flow should be checked at termination (roof).A black roof cap is almost always used, at least where I'm at. Any screen should have been taken out of the cap. Screens, like screws, catch lint and plug. 15' isn't much as mentioned, especially if going up. Going up you get the "chimney effect", a natural flow.

[Morton]

We keep a Tech busy full time cleaning dryer vents. In his opinion 4" pvc seems to be the easiest to clean and the least restrictive.

Get your hands wet and pick up a hand full of lint ... the same thing is happenening in any restricted dryer vent.

Clogged or restricted dryer vents are a leading cause of residential fires ... don't mess around and get your vent cleaned regularly.
One of the signs is taking longer to dry a load.

Also get a dryer brush and clean the dryer out occasionally as well.

Morton

[tv4fish]

What type of a "vent cap" do you have up on the roof? I would be going up there and checking to see if you have a build-up of lint, etc. in that cap that might be restricting the air flow.

Like the others have said, check for air flow out of the vent.

I had a condo that I rented and the vent for the dryer went into the wall, made a 90 degree turn upward to the attic and then turned to go to the outside wall vent. In all it was about 40' run.

Every couple of years the vertical part of the run, just after the dryer and inside the wall, would need cleaning. The lint would drop back down and fill the duct. One condo unit caught fire because of this stupid design.

Another problem was that, in the winter, the part in the attic would condense so much water inside the flexible duct that it would collect and sag down stopping the air flow. I checked it one time and the duct was a solid block of ice.

[REW]

Hawker,
It appears that your base problem is a vertical vent that is very long.
How close is your dryer to an outside wall.
In that distance, is it possible to simply take a vent from your dryer and run it horizontal straight to an outside wall?

If so, do it and shorten your dryer run to a few feet.

Other wise, especially, if you have a straight run for the vent, do a complete 100% clean out of the vent. If the vent is more than a few years old, and especially if the run is a straight one, pull out the old vent and install a new one with as few joints as possible and with no screws or bolts holding any joints together. If you could have the vent made of one piece of continuous pipe, so much the better. Also, since this is a longer run, go with a 5 or 6 inch vent rather than a smaller vent. The larger vent will allow for a bit of lint build up with out restricting air flow.

Of course, follow all of the other suggestions in insuring that your dryer itself is very clean, that all belts and fans and motors are in good conditions as well.

Are you sure that your dryer element itself is in good shape as well as the other dryer controls to be sure that you simply don't have a defective dryer issue.

Good luck
REW

[Hawker]

Hey guys, I really appreciate all the "great" suggestions! Dryer itself (without being connected to vent line) really blows a huge amount of air and is clean inside and out, no lint, no restrictions! Vent pipe is (correction,,,,,,,, was) pretty clogged in the upper end and outside. Builder didn't use a "vent cap", but rather used two 90's and extended the pipe back down to just above the roof (6-8 inches) The majority of the clogging was in the area of the twin 90's topside!

After this weekend is over, I'm going to do a complete workover of the vent system including the vent booster fan which I think will help a lot! I'll be replacing most everything with PVC instead of the metal! Those vent cleaning brushes work really well by the way!! Got a 20 footer, connected one end to my cordless drill, attached a large shop vac to the bottom side and it was done in a flash! System actually works wayyyyyyyyyyyy better than it has in a long time, but I'm not taking any more chances, I'm replacing from top to bottom! Again guys, I really appreciate the helpful hints, suggestions and links!! WC "ROCKS"!!!!!

I strongly urge you not to use PVC, 1st It's probably agaist code, 2nd using PVC creates more static than aluminum venting which will cause vent to clog up more frequently, when lint backs up now you have created a fire hazard.

I'll bet if you read you manual for the dryer it will say not to use plastic venting.

By the way, your wasting your money on a booster fan for a 15ft run like you have.
If you had a 40 ft run that would be different.

Hope it works out for ya.

[Hot Runr Guy]

some light reading, code specifically says "metal".

http://www.dryerbox.com/convertions/...haust_Duct.pdf

HRG

Hate to see someone's house burn down and have the insurance company pinning the use of PVC (non-code) and refuse claim.