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Free heat for clothes drying

13K views 35 replies 20 participants last post by  mske390 
#1 ·
I have recently read a couple of articles about feeding your electric clothes dryer with pre heated attic air. Seal all vent and gaps on your dryer, Install a 6 inch intake duct which feeds to your attic. I'm sorry I cannot post links yet. Google them and read.

1. clothes dryer expel 100-150 cfm from your home, this air is replaced with outside air that needs to be reconditioned by your hvac.
2. Using attic air to feed dryer will decrease attic temps during those hot summer months. ( I live in south Louisiana)
3. Intake air to dryer is preheated requiring less electricity to dry clothes

I am thinking of trying this and installing a small air conditioner filter at the intake to remove any possible dust or insulation from entering dryer. Any thoughts or ill effects of doing this mod. Send me your thoughts
 
#3 ·
I have a thought, interesting concept, but what about the smells that accumulate in the attic. I. E. bathroom smells, cooking smells, musty odors, babies room smells, even the cat litter box.

They all get up there, and then vent out the attic venting.

ED
 
#7 ·
A bit of a wash.

If your basement air is at 70°F and has 70%RH, when its heated to 125°F, its RH is now only 13.1%.

If your attic is at 125°F, and has 30%RH, it will take a lot longer run time to dry the clothing. So you might want to check the RH in your attic before doing this project.
 
#14 ·
A better method would be a heat exchanger. As the hot air goes out, it heats the incoming air.

One of the problems with drawing air from the attic is restriction. The dryer depends on a low restriction input. Any type of tube up to the attic would need to be pretty large to prevent restriction.

RH is an important factor. As the air temp goes up, the potential RH goes up. Any moisture in the air is more moisture added to the clothes that has to be forced out.

If one really wants to reduce energy usage and be more Eco friendly, the old tried and true method is hard to beat....clothes line. In the winter time, hanging clothes to dry in the house has an added benefit of adding moisture to the air (more RH) and thus raising the 'perceived' temp.

BTW. Electric dryers have to be one of the most enefficient ways to dry clothes. I know some people don't have much of an option (no gas).
 
#19 ·
Regardless of temperatures feeding your clothes dryer with outside air is a great idea. Like you said the air will come in anyway as the dryer blows it out. Your attic should be well enough vented to count as outside air.
 
#23 ·
A follow up question to something beenthere mentioned earlier.

This thread has me thinking. If i redirect my air vent from the dryer through my floor to the underside of my home, would that help heat my floors from below?

No basement, just underpinning around my house. Could that help on heating bills by warming my house from below with the excess heat from the dryer. Also could I re-cycle the same air from under my house to power my dryer instead of the attic as mentioned in this thread?
 
#25 ·
That would be my worry as well. There is a tone of moisture that comes out of that dryer vent. You really don't want that under the house.

If you have insulation, it will not do anything for you.

If you don't have insulation, installing the batts that are covered in plastic will do wonders for making the floor warm.
 
#26 ·
The air coming out of your dryer is near 100% saturation and full of lint. It should never be recirculated into the structure in any fashion. Using a heat exchanger or heat sink to scavenge heat from the exhaust will result in heavy condensation and lint build up in the pipe. Blow that stuff outside as directly as possible.

The source of the intake air will normally come from the immediate area the dryer is sitting in and this is conditioned air. The best economy enhancement will be realized by supplying outside air for the intake to eliminate exhausting your conditioned air. It is a marginal improvement in energy savings so don't stop shopping for that Prius if you have a green agenda to meet.
 
#27 ·
Well, I already have the prius so no worries there XD

thnx for the speedy answers. It would just be for the winter time. For summer I simply use a close-line & during the winter the wood burning stove is normally for heat.

Just thought I could maybe recirculate the pre-heated air under the flooring but will not be doing that lol.
 
#28 ·
There used to be a device made for dryers where venting to the outside was impossible.

It consisted of a bucket about 2 gallon sized, with water in it, the dryer vented into the bucket, the water caught the lint, and the warm moist air was expelled into the room,

The only drawback was needing to clean it out occasionally, and keeping it filled with clean water.

I used one a few years ago in one of my temp jobs, babysitting teenaged drug addicts.

Actually night guard/ resident warden at a re-hab facility.


ED
 
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