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Clothes dryer venting. Do’s
and Don’ts
By: Patrick Mahoney
Owner/Operator
of SHERLOCK HOME INSPECTOR
Many years ago when I was doing maintenance work for a large
property management company, I got a call to look at a clothes dryer that
was not working properly. The
tenant said that her clothes were just not getting dry no matter how long
she ran the dryer. What I
found was that the dryer lacked a lint screen, and the flexible vent hose
under the house was sagging considerably and had been trapping moisture
and lint for a very long time. The
more moisture that became trapped in the hose, the more it sagged.
The result was that the hose had become completely blocked by an
oatmeal-like mixture of lint and moisture.
No air could pass through this blockage, and the dryer could not do
it’s job. In this case, replacement and proper routing of the vent hose
solved the problem.
When the proper flow of air is blocked, the clothes dryer has to
work harder to dry your clothes, and this could lead to premature failure
of the appliance, and in some cases could cause a fire. Whenever you have a home inspection, be sure to ask the
inspector to look at the dryer vent hose, and it’s also a good idea to
check it at least once a year.
Article: Clothes dryer
venting. Do’s and don’ts by Patrick Mahoney Ó 2004 |
