Dryer Vent

You need to have some one come and clean out vent piping, replace if necessary, make as short as possible. Metal pipe is better than that flex. Only one 90 degree turn. (If possible) Even cleanout inside of dryer. A stopped up dryer vent is a dangerous problem.

 

Have you tried running the dryer with the vent disconnected at the dryer to see if hot air comes out?

 

I would agree you need to clean the unit itself. Get a dryer brush and start at the front where the trap is the go back from there. Are you sure the heat strips work and your not just air drying

 

lentz,
The dryer vent pipe in the picture, is brand new. I know you guys here do not support DIY but I replaced the pipe when I found the old half crushed vent pipe just laying in the attic space. So the vent pipe itself is brand new, no clogs. When I did that several weeks ago I made sure to make it as short as possible. So in terms of the physical tube itself, its clean and as short as it can be.

Djlandkpl and Laszer99,
When the dryer is running I have been checking on the tube, it is warm to the touch, and outside we've had some snow lately, and it is creating steam coming out of roof vent,and it has been warm enough to melt the snow near the vent. So the air coming out of the roof vent appears to be fairly warm air. Also when the clothes do dry if I take them out right away, they area warm to the touch like I've expereinced in the past with other dryers.

I have not tried running the dryer with the vent removed. It is a natural gas dryer, I assumed that would be dangerous to do.


So the thinking is maybe use a dryer brush and shove it into the lint trap at the top of the dryer to try to clean any clogs???

 

My guesses would be there's not enough heat or lack of airflow which is causing the dryer not to dry.

I would try cleaning the vent in the dryer but if that doesn't work you need to decide if it's more economical to replace or repair. Since it's gas, don't do a DIY.

 

djlandkpl
So your thinking that it is likely something with the dryer itself and not with the venting??

I have a newer likely much more efficent dryer available for me to use if I need to. I just didn't want to get into a situation where we move it hook it up and it still doesn't work properly.

 

I can't say with 100% certainty that it's the dryer. As you know, flex isn't the best choice. I'm guessing the dryer is plugged up with lint since it couldn't vent properly. When you took out the old venting, was it full of lint?

 

How about a dryer booster fan?
http://www.fantech.net/dryer_boosting.htm

Maybe that dryer didn't have good exhaust flow by design and was suited
for short vents directly to an outside wall.

 

I understand that it is impossible to make a diagnosis of the internet, so i'm thankful for your thoughts.

I know flex tube is about the worst you can use, but I am trying to go low with the cost in hopes we will sell our house soon. Also, I figured even if it was not ideal, it still had to be 10x better than it was. Which is why I'd also like to stay away from a booster fan. I ran across those and thought I had read that they weren't supposed to be used anymore with dryers.

The old vent tube had quite a bit of lint but that was near the end of the pipe. Near the dryer end of the pipe it wasn't too bad, there was some but not like clogged and restrictive.


I really am thankful for your guys input.

 

I have had a similar problem with my dryer, but mine is because of lint clogging....such a pita to clean it out every month or so....

My setup has flex to the wall then connects to hard metal that goes vertical in the wall up to the attic then 90's out to a plastic exterior exhaust vent.

Lint gets caught in the flex as it 90's up to the hard duct, then there are screws in the hard duct (holding it in place behind the wall) and lint catches on them , and then finally there is a grill or grate in the exhaust vent and this clogs up very quickly (a month or two). So like I said its a real pain to have to clean out the whole system every month.

Anyone know of some kind of filter that could be used before or after the flex??? There is the basket in the dryer but a lot gets past it.

 

Check if the fan blades of the internal dryer blower that exhausts the humid air are moving at all. Maybe a belt broke or a setscrew is loose.

 

eek...what? Can i do this?
My dryer does have a slight squeeking noise when it runs...related?

 

Your dryer in the photo looks like a Kenmoore model. I have taken these models out of a house before to clean them. The back air ducting is removable. When I took it all apart I found tons of lint blocking vital air passages. When I did this to my parent's Kenmore dryer, my mother said after I returned it that now performs better than it has in a long time.

The flex dryer duct is restrictive. My approach would be to get the dryer thoroughly cleaned out and to have the flex ducting replaced with smooth hard pipe made from sheetmetal. One caution...whoever installs this should NOT use zip screws to tie the sections of pipe together. Doing so guarantees a lint trap inside the pipe.

 

this is a roper dryer.
I have taken the back plate off before to check for lint and clean but I found very little lint ..you must be talking about in different location

 

Haven't worked with Roper...and we can't really get into step by step here if I did know. But...I'd put good money that deeper in that machine there's a pile of lint just waiting to be removed so that dryer can breathe like new.

 

Also, it's possible that due to poor exhaust provision, one of the heating elements in the dryer may have gone out, or a limit switch. Either one calls for service on the dryer.

 

ok, well i can say that I do feel a little bit better.

As long as 85% of the blame seems like it points to something with the dryer and not the venting then I'll likely just try to switch my dryer out with my parents old dryer and see what happens.

I know smooth metal vent is best.. but i hope to only be in this house for another 3-4 months at most

 

I guess before the air can leave the dryer through the proper exit,

it must be able to enter the dryer and
it must be able to flow through the dryer unimpeded by some forcing thing (a propeller) and
it must not escape elsewhere.

The smart money seems to be on "unimpeded" part not being done.

 

since this is a NG dryer and you say the air coming out is fairly warm there is definately something wrong with the dryer. I have a NG dryer ducted using rigid duct and the ducts are so hot I can hardly keep my hands on the bare duct, which beleive me to think your dryer has a problem with the burners or lack of combustion air for the burners. I would disconnect the dryer completely from the gas line, duct work and completely clean the bottom side inside, lint trap, and everywhere else you can clean as lint tends to build up anywhere there is air moving in or around the dryer and will cause some of the prblems you are telling us. Or you can call the maytag man and have him fix it for you

 

I removed the back of the dryer, and cleaned the lint chute out. there was a good hand full of lint and other goodies in the bottom of the chute, which I would believe could not have been helping anything. I did as good as job as i could cleaning any and all lint i could see.

I ran a load of laundry about an hour and they are in the dryer right now. Its a medium size load, so I figure max of about 75 minutes.
Although I did just notice that I had the dryer on "knit/Low" which I had messed with during some trials and tribulations. So I may have to try another load in the dryer with it on "Cotton/prem press high"

I can't expect too much out of a dryer that is at least 7-9 years old i guess..
I appreciate all your input.

 

codes

Check your codes on dryer venting. The IRC allows only the first 8 ft. of flex. with a total of 25 ft. unless en engineered system. You must use rigid pipe with the male end pointing away from the appliance and joints taped without screws. You cannot use that plastic crap from the home center even though they sell it. Also, most mfrs. will void their warranty if plastic slinkies are used to vent.

If you are not getting heat out of the unit most likely the hot surface igniter is bad.

hth,

 

I take my dryer apart twice a year and clean it out.

The lint trap......while works.....doesn't stop everything. And everyhing it doesn't stop gets caught in the fan blades.


I wouldn't recommend you to do it. Especially since you haven't done it before and aren't too familiar with it.


Call an appliance repair shop to send out a tech to perform a cleaning and check-up of the unit. Being that old and gas....you may have other issues at hand that are not showing themselves just thing minute.

 

Even though your dryer is 6 or 7 yrs old shouldn't matter and 6 or 7 yrs isnt that old for a NG dryer. Dryers are one of the most dangerous appliance's in the house along side your furnace, but dryers cause more house fires every year than yoru care to know about. Keeping them clean is essential to there efficiency and longenvity, And as far as the cost of venting with flex vs rigid there's really not alot of difference in cost for such short runs in a typical house so you should always go with rigid even for bathroom exhaust, the rigid ducting allows for better airflow, and also keeps lint from collecting in the run whereas flex ducting will collect more lint in a months time than rigid will in 6 months or a year so it's basically a no brainer in that respect. A properly ducted dryer using rigid ducting with seams, joints taped no sheet metal screws used should get hot so your not able to hold your hand on the duct and get hot within minutes of being turned on, if it does not it needs to be serviced and ASAP !!! Fires double every 2 minutes how fast can you run ??

 

Natural gas/LP dryers should NEVER be vented with plastic! Gas dryers run alot hotter than electric. Dan mentioned above that his pipe gets too hot to leave his hand on which is normal. Something is definitely wrong with that dryer 'cause if it was working properly it would already be melting that plastic flex! You need to get a pro look at that thing and get metal pipe on there ASAP! You may need to have a combustion air supply piped in from outdoors too. I'd also recomend having a CO detector in the house.

 

Wow. I did not catch that this was a natural gas dryer. For eliteconcept, if you check back in here, you should really listen to what's being said. You may have only a few months longer you plan to be in the house...don't make your departure sooner than that!

That flexible duct needs to be removed ASAP. Don't even swap out a dryer and stick it back on that stuff. Do the right thing for the next occupant of that house, if nothing else.

 

Plus...you can paint a smooth metal round vent duct (properly primed) to the room color to look better to your potential buyer. And...the paint will stick and won't start flaking off due to heat. As a painting contractor, I've painted metal
that gets a lot hotter than a dryer exhaust vent, with long lasting success.

I mean, you can even buy a quart of white high temp paint and just tint it to your room color.
You needn't even have to go that far.

Man..that flex ducting in your laundry up to the ceiling looks...well, ugly.

 

folks,
Thanks for all your responses.
I do have a CO detector in my house, always have.

I've learned some more since last night. I looked up the serial number on the dryer, and based on what I found it looks like this dryer is 17 years old circa 1991. Being a low range model that it is (Roper), I am now for sure to say we are replacing this dryer this weekend, likely along with the vent


Is the metal foil vent tube only for electric dryers?
I need to be able to do laundry this weekend and i'm not sure when my hvac guy will be able to schedule.
Should I not run the newer dryer with the metal foil vent tubing?
If so I guess i'll be running to the laundry mat


Thanks for your input and concerns on this matter.

 

You can for the interm run the dryer and just vent it near a basement window temporairly until a more permanet set-up can be done, but if your handy or a DIY type of person and already have the connection going thru your sidewall of your home or roof you should be able to run some 4" rigid ducting in place of the flex that you had, If not vent to a window and get your contracotr out asap.