Is Dryer Vent Cleaning Necessary?

Is Dryer Vent Cleaning Necessary?

Dryer Vent is something that any electric or gas laundry owner would have seen. A Dry Vent is approximately a 4+ inch diameter metal vent that forces the water-laden air out.  With most dryers, you cannot blow this air into your house interior. The air is moved from the dryer to the exterior with a flexible, semi-rigid, or rigid tube.

Need for Cleaning the Dryer Vent

  • It is Important to keep the dryer vents clean in order to prevent uncalled fire, as lint is highly inflammable. So if the dryer vent is jammed with lint, a small plugin can ignite the fire in no time. A study also reveals that 16000+ dryer fires have occurred in US alone.
  • The laundry dries much faster if the dryer vent is clean and unblocked. ( So if it’s taking your laundry more than 55mins, then you’re most certainly having a clogged vent)
  • If the dryers vent is clogged, it will not only put pressure on the machine, but would also not dry the clothes well, leaving behind an unclean or pungent smell.
  • If the laundry cleaning process takes long, it puts stress on the machine and stress leads to more laundry cleaning time, which in turn leads to more electricity bill. However, less stress or time used for cleaning the laundry will bring the electricity bill down. And, you can expect your laundry to have extended life as the dryer won’t be at risk too.
  • While consuming less energy, you’re also contributing in lesser degradation of the environment and it is rightly said that a clean vent is a green vent.
  • If you have gas dryer and the vent is clogged, you’re at a greater risk of carbon monoxide intoxicating your home, because it can’t travel out from the duct outlet, which means it stays inside the home. Carbon Monoxide must not stay inside the house as it’s poisonous to human health.

Cleaning your dryer vent is certainly very ‘Necessary’, and it should be done at least once in a year. While some people are of the opinion of cleaning the vent themselves, it’s always a good idea to hire skilled and trained professionals to do the job. The cleaning of the dryers vent needs to be done carefully as the entire lint must be sucked out efficiently. To know if your dryer vent is blocked, get to the exit, turn on the dryer and put your hand there. If there is a lot of air coming out then, get the issue addressed.

Vent cleaning is often overlooked by home owners when they have to think about HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) maintenance, and it turns out to be a costly mistake. Even if you clean the lint filter after every use, lint still builds up in the duct that’s not visible to the eyes. This often leads to a misconception of assuming that there isn’t any lint concentration happening.

While getting the gas dryer vent cleaned, always ensure to unplug the dryer and turn off the valve to prevent any gas leakage or ignition. Metal ducts prove far safer in handling fire. So do take your dryer vent cleaning seriously.