Dryer duct seems clogged, who should I call?

[eudmin]

I live on the 6th floor of a 7 story condo building and my dryer duct goes up into my kitchen ceiling, through the ceiling, and out the front wall of the condo approx. 30 feet away. The dryer was a 20 year old Spacemaker with bad door seals that had been dumping lint into the ductwork for years apparently.

When I moved into the place a couple of months ago I noticed that the dryer was not working and took the front cover off. The entire body of the dryer was packed with lint and dog hair as was all of the ductwork coming out of the blower and up into the ceiling. I pulled as much as I could out with my hand and then called a duct cleaner to come and give it a try. They put their compressed air hose way up into it and did their thing, but said that they got almost nothing out.

Well, I recently replaced the washer and dryer with a more modern model and am positive that I am having the same problems with the clothes not drying so I am thinking that the ductwork is still clogged up.

I looked at the outside vent and it appears to be a grid type vent that fits flush against the wall (6 stories up) as opposed to one of the flaps that I am used to seeing on dryer vents. It is one vent in common for three exhausts: dryer, stove, and bathroom. My guess is that some of the huge quantity of lint that must have been in my ductwork has gotten trapped against the inside surface of that grid and blocked it to an extent that could not be removed with by the normal duct cleaners procedures.

So my question is, what options are available to me? I am not terribly interested in doing it myself unless it is really simple. I had considered hooking some really powerful suction up to the inside end of the duct, like a gas-powered leafblower, and trying to just suck it all back into my kitchen, but that seems like a bad idea. A rock-climbing friend offered to rapell off the roof with a leafblower to try to clean it out, but that also seems dubious to me. Seems like an HVAC guy could cut into my ceiling near where the ductwork exits, cut into the duct, and remove any blockage at the end. Is that the right way to tackle the problem? Do little cameras on a stick exist to look through the ductwork and see what is really happening?

I read in the new dryer's docs what the backpressure spec is for the dryer, and I am interested in having someone come out with a manometer to at least check it out before starting to tear the place up. Can any residential HVAC person do that or is it something special? And lastly, since my unit is not the only one with problems with the exterior vents (other units have had rain blowing in theirs and collecting in the ductwork eventually leaking into their walls and such) how could I make the condo board's decision to replace all of the exterior vents easier by contacting local contractors myself? Should I be talking to residential or commercial ones? And what are good sites to find ones in my area (DC)? I don't like the yellowpages grab bag.

[framehvac]

Most hvac companies can fix it or come up with a new way to do it.


how could I make the condo board's decision to replace all of the exterior vents easier by contacting local contractors myself


The hvac company that comes out may help they can see if it was installed wrong that may help.

[eudmin]

OK. Should I look for residential ones or commercial ones?

The construction of the building (and my unit being on the 6th floor) seems more similar to a commercial problem to me, but maybe the difference between the two types of companies are their business methods more than their expertise.

[framehvac]

eudmin OK. Should I look for residential ones or commercial ones?

Most companies do both just call one they can tell you if they won't to do it or not.

[fat bob]

Is the vent hard duct, i.e. sheet metal? Maybe a shop vac with extra hose? Some can vacuum and blow depending on where you attach the hose. The combination might clear it out.

[eudmin]

Fat bob - The vent is 4" sheet metal. One thing I noticed was that even though all of the dryer documentation says that dryer ductwork should not be assembled with screws because they grab lint this one seems to be screwed together. At least that first 90 degree angle where it goes into the ceiling has screws in it.

I will think some more about the shopvac idea. I could probably borrow the stuff from someone else and at least give it a try, but I guess I would still like someone to come to take a look at it.

My dad was a pipefitter until he died of pancreatic cancer recently. It still feels weird to call anyone else with these kinds of questions, and I wish I knew as much as he did.

[fat bob]

Sorry about your dad. If the duct is screwed together getting a shop vac hose past the screws might be tricky. I think the standard hose size is 2 1/2. But they are not expensive and are handy for lots of things. No matter what you should unclog if it is in fact clogged. A clogged dryer vent is a serious fire hazard. Incidentally, a grille should never be put on a dryer vent, though that's obviously not your fault.

[fat eddy]

I think you should call a sheet metal contractor, often it is not the same as a heating and cooling co.

[Swampfox]

There are companies that do this sort of thing, an HVAC company that does duct cleaning may be able to do it also, if all else fails you could use one of these not the best solution but its better than burning up a new dryer, they are popular in the condos around here.

[billva]

i personnaly would not even consider using on of those contraptions.

come summertime you will be adding a large amount of heat and humidity to the structure that will have to be removed by your cooling system. (i.e., increased energy bills.)

unfortunatley your best bet is going to be cutting holes in drywall to access the venting. depending on the lengths of piping used it may take several, as it would be a wise idea to remove any screws and tape the joints to prevent this problem in the future.

i live in a condo also and have a recurring problem with a bird nesting in mine. i can reach the exit from a window, clean out the nesting, come home from work the next day and it has rebuilt it with even more crap. finally sprayed some bleach in and that seemed to work.

if many owners in your building are having the same problem, take it up w/ the bod as a fire hazard. mine talked about it a couple of years ago but so far no action.

good luck

[mo-flo]

no screws,no screen supposed to be used......we are allowed to use chimney liner....although pipe would be better.

[sline-dawg]

It is one vent in common for three exhausts: dryer, stove, and bathroom. That doesn't sound too good. Grease, lint and bathroom air in 1 duct ?? If that is true , I believe the condo should fix it up to code...JHMO

[cem-bsee]

raise H E L L! get it fixed!
else, the next call may be to 9 1 1

this is a fire awaiting to happen --
grease + lint --

I would sell & move quickly -- problem is, you know of the hazard, so have to disclose it to next buyer.

you may get your's fixed, how about the ones below you, beside you?

[mo-flo]

must of missed the part about the kit.,bath tieing into it...........DEFINITELY get it fixed.no wander it is clogging up...

[garry b]

I wonder if a chimney sweep could stuff a brush in there and push the crap out the end of the vent pipe? I wonder if they even have equipment long enough. Not sure how the set up is to pull the screen off of the end of the pipe, though. Six stories up...unless it's right at the balcony or something...you shouldn't touch it unless it's a zero reach situation to work on it.

Pressure check, first...make sure it is plugged up before you call out the National Guard.

Just something to ponder...

[eudmin]

Thanks for all the advice.

I should clear up a couple of things. The duct is not in common for kitchen, bath, and dryer. From what I can see on the lower floor vents they all converge as separate ducts and are installed behind one grating on the face of the building next to each other. So there is a 12x4 grating with three 4" ducts terminating behind it.

I am ashamed to say that I am currently using one of those indoor dryer vents that was proposed. It does dump a lot of humidity into the room, but since I switched to a more efficient front-loading washer which spins at 1200rpm the clothes go into the dryer only slightly damp. Certainly much better than when I had the old dryer venting into the condo. That one not only dumped massive humidity, but it had the problem with the lint not getting trapped by the screen so it dumped that into the room too.

I heard back from my condo board and they do plan to replace all of the exterior vents with a normal louvered design when they do the work on the windows of some of the units, but they are not sure when that will happen. I will give a call to a couple HVAC companies I have seen driving around in the neighborhood and see what they say. I know it isn't the sexiest job for a pipefitter to do, though, so if they give me the brushoff I will try a sheetmetal guy.

I went back to the website of the company that did my attempt at cleaning and they now offer a camera to go through your duct for free when you get them cleaned. Maybe I can pay them to come and give me a dryer-oscopy since their cleaning didn't solve the problem.

If anyone has a recommendation for a firm around DC that might be interested in helping me out with the duct problem maybe you can drop me an email. munter at gmail.com is the address. Since the building is self-managed if I am proactive about it I might be able to get the business for the whole building done instead of just my unit by being the one willing to tackle the problem.

I am also interested in talking to someone about the causes and possible remedies for this massive negative pressure I (we) seem to have. I put plastic up on the windows to keep out the drafts and they inflate like a balloon. heh. Air blows in my windows, my stove vent, under my door. Wish it would blow in my dryer vent and clear some lint. I have no idea where it is going. Maybe up the fireplace, but I have the damper closed. /shrug Maybe it's just venturi forces since I am on the west (windy) side of the building, but I would have expected that to suck air out, not blow it in.

Edit: Thought I would add a link to a picture of the front of the building so you could see what I was talking about. My unit is the second from the top on the left side. For some reason my vent is the only one with a little awning on top of it. My Vent

[Edited by Eudmin on 02-23-2005 at 02:05 AM]