Home maintenance is an important part of ensuring that you and your family can stay safe, warm, and dry in your home. Whether you are a renter or homeowner, it helps to have a maintenance schedule for your home, ensuring that you regularly check on the different systems in your home to ensure that they are in working order and are operating efficiently.
One such system is your clothes dryer. Both gas and electric clothes dryers use hot air to dry your clothes and vent that hot air outside your home through a dryer vent. This hot air often contains dust, lint, or dirt. Over time this dust and lint builds up in your dryer vent. So, one important maintenance task is making sure to keep your dryer vent clean and free of debris such as dust and lint. Keep in mind, your dryer vent is different from the lint trap in your dryer. The lint trap is typically located inside the dryer drum or on the front or top of the machine. You likely clean the lint out of the lint trap every time you do laundry.
Your dryer vent, however, is the pipe that connects your dryer to the wall. It is behind your dryer and is not very easy to access. It is about 4 inches in diameter. Your dryer vent also extends from the interior wall behind your dryer to the exterior wall of your house, where your dryer vents air to the outside. In some houses, it runs under the floor, in a crawlspace, or in a basement. The dryer vent can be made from flexible or rigid aluminum. It is typically held in place by clamps or screws.
Per the National Fire Protection Association, dryer vent fires are the 6th leading cause of house fires in the country. In order to protect your house, you should clean out the lint trap every time you run the dryer. Your maintenance schedule should include cleaning out your dryer vent once a year. You should also check the dryer vent itself to ensure that it is still in good condition, is free of folds, dents, or splits, and is securely anchored at all connection points. If your dryer vent is in poor condition, it should be replaced.
To perform this maintenance:
- Pull your dryer away from the wall. Unplug your dryer.
- Visually inspect the dryer vent to look for dents, folds, or splits. If you see these, replace the dryer vent.
- Detach the dryer vent from the dryer and the wall by removing the clamps or screws.
- Clean the dryer vent out by hand or using a dryer vent cleaning brush.
- Find the place on the exterior of your house where your dryer vents to the outside. Inspect the exterior dryer vent cap for a buildup of dust or lint. Clean the cap as needed. Use a dryer vent cleaning brush to clean the dryer vent extending from the vent cap back into the exterior wall of your house.
- Reattach the dryer vent to your dryer and interior wall. Plug your dryer back in. Push your dryer back into place being careful not to fold or break your dryer vent.