Dryer Vent Cleaning in Louisville, KY
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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold air turns lint into a clog
Your dryer pushes warm, wet air out through the vent. From October through April, with winter nights averaging 27°F, that vent runs cold most of its length. The warm air hits cold metal and cools fast, and the moisture in it settles on the walls of the duct. Lint sticks to a damp surface far more than a dry one, so the buildup packs in tighter and closer to the wall of the vent.
Once that lint layer builds up, air has less room to move. The dryer has to push harder to get the same air out, which means longer drying times and a motor working against more resistance than it should.
- 27°F
- the average winter night, and cold vents catch damp lint
- 7 months
- October through April, the vent stays cold
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
- Once a year for most households. If you run large loads often, or dry a lot of towels and bedding, it is worth checking more often than that. Lint builds up along the whole length of the vent, not just in the trap, and a year is long enough for it to narrow the path air needs to take.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can clean the first few feet from the back of the dryer, and that is worth doing. A vent brush kit reaches further than your hand and pulls out lint you cannot see. But most vents run several feet through a wall or ceiling to an outside hood, with bends along the way, and that stretch is hard to clean without the right length of rod and a way to check your work at the other end.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes take longer to dry than they used to, or come out hot to the touch instead of just warm. The outside of the dryer feels hot during a cycle. You smell a burning or musty odor, or the vent hood outside barely moves the flap when the dryer runs. Any one of these means air is not getting out the way it should, and it is worth checking the vent before running another load.