dryer duct cleaning necessary?

DIYGST

I have a laundry area and I am guessing the plumbing go straight up from floor to second level roof.

Is it a good idea to have someone come in and clean it out before I move in?

I do see there is a bit of lint in the flex hose already.

tylernt

I would clean it myself or have it cleaned, yes. In my last house, it had a single story dryer vent through the roof, and it collected tons of lint -- especially right at the top cap. Two stories is probably going to be worse.

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pinkfloyd43

I would certainly do it. We had a dryer for about 10 years and the wife ended up calling the local fire department as she was smelling smoke from the dryer. When I got home they had pulled it out and disassembled the back panel and could see tons of built up lint in both the dryer and the vent leaving it!

Had a dryer guy come out and he completly disassembed the think and cleaned both the dryer and vent for about $100! Well worth it to me.

BTW, we are crazy about cleaning the dryer vent lint trap as it's more efficent w/o all that crap in there, but there is always more when you can't get to.

joed

I clean my own. Take the outer cap off and put the dryer on cold air blow. Then I take my manual sewer snake with some heavy duty plastic tie wraps on the end leaving the tails on. Spin the snake down the pipe and the air blows all the lint you knock loose out in your face.

Alternate method is to use a leaf blower. Be sure to blow from the inside or your wife might not be too happy.

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sdsester

Definitely clean the lint trap and the lint ducting on a regular basis.

It is not a bad idea to check all your roof vents at least annually to make sure critters have not found a way to build nests in them and that they are not otherwise blocked.

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Bill7

Mine is a story up. From the outside, I just use a shop vac with extensions. My laundry room is on an outside wall, though.

md2lgyk

My dryer is on an outside wall. The duct goes straight through the wall. Total length is about 16 inches. I've never felt the need to clean it.

I don't understand why anybody would vent a dryer up through the roof. Seems like a recipe for problems.

Gary in WA

Perhaps trying to keep the 3' rule of dryer termination from house openings... window, door, HVAC supply, ERV, etc.; http://www.codecheck.com/cc/ccimages...6th_Sample.pdf

Gary
P.S. DIYGST, I hope the flex duct is just in the room (transition ducting), not buried in framing; http://www.hcpdc.com/pdf/Dryer%20Ven...quirements.pdf

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md2lgyk

Hmmm. Never heard of this one. Apparently, neither has our inspector.

ddawg16

Gary....great links (where do you find them?)

With that said...I can't fin the 3' rule...

If that is in fact a rule....I'm screwed......my dryer vent is about 20" from the door....as are most of the houses in my neighborhood....

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