Your clothes dryer is one of the hardest-working appliances in your
home. It's also a fairly basic appliance in how it operates, and if
it's properly vented and maintained, it should give you years, even
decades, of reliable service.
But "properly vented and
maintained" is the catch. Because a dryer is such a simple appliance to
install and operate, many people don't give it much thought. They set
it in place, plug it in, vent it through that pipe coming up out of the
floor -- typically with the wrong type of vent hose -- then forget
about it. And there it sits, slowly degrading in performance, using up
increasingly greater and greater amounts of energy, and becoming a
bigger fire hazard with each passing day!
Dryer operation 101
When
you put in wet clothes and activate a drying cycle, here's what
happens: A fan is activated to draw air into the dryer through the
front. The air is heated by a heating element, then passed through the
drum, which is rotating to circulate both the clothes and the air. The
hot air draws moisture from the clothes, and is then directed through
the dryer's door and through a lint screen. A fan pushes the now
moisture-laden air into a duct that exits through the back of the
dryer.
The two important things for you to know in all that is that the
air in your dryer is both extremely moist and also -- despite the lint
trap -- still full of fine lint. If you don't handle that air and that
lint properly, it's inevitably going to lead to problems.
Lint
that builds up in the dryer and in the vent pipes will retain moisture.
Now every time your dryer operates, it has to work harder and harder
to dry the clothes, and to push the wet air past the wet lint in the
lines. That lengthens the time your clothes takes to dry, which, plain
and simple, is throwing away your hard-earned money. It also shortens
the life of your dryer. Besides that, the moisture in the lines is a
breeding ground for mold, and it prevents your clothes from being and
smelling completely clean. Finally, lint further along the lines that
dries out is extremely flammable, and is one of the leading causes of
house fires.
Proper dryer venting
At the rear of
your dryer is a 4-inch diameter vent, which is where the internal fan
is going to push all that wet air. It's up to you to make sure that
vent pipe gets properly connected to the outside, and there are three
basic components in the dryer venting system that you'll want to set up
in order to do that correctly:
1. The duct between inside and outside:
From the inside of the house, you'll need a duct that leads to the
exterior. In homes with a crawl space or a basement, this is usually
run under the floor, elbowing up through the floor to terminate right
behind the dryer. If the dryer is located on an exterior wall, you can
simplify the installation and shorten the duct run by simply going
right through the wall. For dryers located on a second floor, or on a
concrete slab, duct pipes are often run vertically into the attic, then
out through a side wall.
Use 4-inch smooth-wall galvanized or
aluminum duct pipe that's made for this purpose, not flex duct. Flex
duct traps both lint and moisture, and is very hard to clean.
Smooth-wall pipe is typically sold in 5-foot lengths, with one end
crimped so that it slides easily into the uncrimped end of the next
pipe. Seal the joints using a good-quality metallic seam tape -- not
regular cloth duct tape. For changes in direction, use adjustable
elbows.
Remember that the dryer fan has only a limited ability
push the wet air, so keep the length of the duct run as short as
possible, with as few elbows as you can. Support the ducts with
strapping to avoid sags, and try to angle the run down from the dryer
to the exterior to prevent any moisture from accumulating in the pipe.
Refer to the dryer manufacturer's specific instructions for their
suggestions on maximum ducting lengths and other information.
2. Exterior cap:
At the outside of the house, whether you pass through a wall or a
foundation, you'll need to terminate the duct pipe in a cap. The best
type of cap to use is one with a set of three or four overlapping
damper flaps, as opposed to one large one.
These smaller flaps will
open easily when the dryer is in operation to allow air to exit, then
close to keep cold air and pests from entering the house.
3. Interior flex connection:
Behind the dryer, you'll need a connection between the dryer's vent
pipe and the duct pipe that's coming through the floor or the wall. In
order to make it easier to pull the dryer out for periodic cleaning,
this connection needs to be flexible -- it's the only flex line in the
entire setup. To avoid potential fire hazards, this flex line needs to
be aluminum, not the inexpensive white vinyl.
Keep it clean
Now
that you have everything properly set up, it's crucial that you keep
everything clean. Remove and clear the lint trap with every load of
laundry. Every couple of weeks, rinse the lint trap in the sink and
clean it with a fine brush, like an old toothbrush, so that fine lint
particles don't build up on the screen.
Even with the screen,
lint still accumulates in the duct system. To keep your dryer working
correctly and to avoid wasting money, you should clean the duct system
itself every couple of years -- more if you have a large family and use
the dryer a lot. You can probably clean a short run yourself, such as
those that pass straight through an exterior wall. Longer runs should
be professionally cleaned by a company that has the proper vacuums and
brushes; check online under "lint cleaning" or "dryer cleaning," or
call a local appliance repair shop to check for recommendations in your
area.
http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/paulbianchina/how-properly-vent-a-clothes-dryer
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