You might be wondering How Often To Clean Dryer Vent and how you should clean them. Because it is a multi-step procedure, you may be able to complete it on your own or require expert support.
Laundry is significant pain in the neck, regardless of the size of your household. Most people despise washing laundry, yet a small percentage of the population finds it soothing. Whatever your feelings on laundry, some things must get prioritized. Many household appliances, like the dryer, are taken for granted until they break down. Cleaning your ducts for more reasons than simply your clothes and time are essential.
Quick summary: Depending on the size of the home and dryer usage, dryer exhaust vents should be examined and cleaned at least once a year. But, if you have a household that uses the dryer often, you may want to consider extending this to every six months.
Continue reading to learn about the indicators that your dryer vent needs repair, as well as the challenges and upkeep that come with it.
What Is A Laundry Dryer Vent?
The operation of your clothes dryer is dependent on the dryer vent or duct. Wet clothing is tumbled through hot air in a spinning drum by clothes dryers. This hot air evaporates the moisture, takes it up, and pushes it out of the dryer with the help of a fan. You won’t be able to blast this air into your home’s interior with most dryers.
A flexible pipe transports air from the dryer to the outside. Usually, this dryer vent is composed of metal or vinyl. Dryer vents that haven’t got cleaned are responsible for about 3,000 house fires and five deaths per year. As a result, it is vital to keep you and your family secure, as well as your house, by regular maintenance of the dryer vent.
When you buy new garments frequently, they develop a lot of lint until you wash them a few times. Lint is a very flammable substance. As described clogged dryer vent is one of the most common causes of house fires. Even if blocked dryer ducts don’t cause immediate harm to your home, they will waste your time, energy, and money.
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How To Know When To Clean Your Dryer Vent?
A few distinct indicators indicate that your dryer exhaust needs to get cleaned.
- During the drying cycle, the dryer itself becomes hot to the touch.
- Things take longer to dry, such as garments that need to get rewashed.
- The garments have a peculiar burning odor, and the laundry area is quite hot when the dryer is running.
- Debris in the vicinity of the dryer hose;
- You haven’t looked at your dryer vent in well over a year.
How Often To Clean Dryer Vent – Misconceptions
Some individuals feel, and home experts agree, that the trap vent should get cleaned regularly. To answer particularly, How Often To Clean Dryer Vent. It should get done at least once a year; the dryer vent should be examined and cleaned.
This simple task may make a significant difference in dryer performance. This figure might fluctuate based on a few things that we’ll go through in the following section. Cleaning your dryer regularly will provide you with several advantages, including:
- Cleaning your dryer vent regularly might save you up to 30% on your energy bills.
- Regular cleaning reduces the likelihood of a breakdown or technical issue, as well as the expense of repair.
- You’re protecting yourself against the dangers of fire.
- Having a clean dryer vent will help. If the dryer vent is not cleaned regularly, it reduces dryer wear and tears by requiring the dryer to work twice as hard to dry your clothes.
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Factors That May Decrease the Maintenance intervals Of A Dryer
The variables listed below may determine whether the answer to How Often To Clean Dryer Vent for you is the same or not.
- Your Family Size: If you have a considerable family size, extra loads of laundry are to get laundered each day. As a result, the dryer vent should get cleaned multiple times a year.
- What You Laundry: If you have many thick items in your laundry, cleaning your dryer exhaust multiple times a year gets recommended. Additionally, if you buy new garments more frequently, you may need to clean your dryer vents various times a year.
- Your Pet: Dryer vents in pet-free houses become blocked more rapidly due to pet hair and fur.
How to Clean Dryer Vents?
Cleaning a dryer vent entails more than just removing debris from the filter. There is a slew of different things that need to be examined and cleaned. Follow the below steps to clean your dryer efficiently
- Step#1: Look for the dryer vent. They’re usually connected to a 4-inch-diameter exhaust pipe that goes through a wall and into the ductwork.
- Step#2: Remove any metal tape or clamps that connect your dryer vent pipe to its exhaust to disconnect it.
- Step#3: You should now be able to see into your dryer vent clearly from within your laundry room. Suck up any debris with the hose attachment of a vacuum cleaner. The brush that comes with the vent cleaning kits can also get used. Push the brush back as far as it will go. Before each cycle, remove the lint trap filter at the outer edge of your dryer door to prevent it from clogging up.
- Step#4: Connect back your dryer to an outlet and your wall duct, and you’re ready to go.
Note: You might want to hire someone to do it for you—a professional dryer cleaning costs between $89 and $179.
Bottom Line
Debris enters the dryer vent every time you use it, and it builds up over time, causing a blockage. Because the combination of lint and heat can create fires, you must keep up with this task. Cleaning your dryer vent is not a difficult chore, as you can see from the instructions above, and you should clean your dryer vents at least once every 12 months. If you don’t want to clean your dryer vents yourself, hire a professional.
