Dryer Vent Cleaning

     From time to time, on no regular schedule, I use a Lint Lizard to clean out the dryer and the tube that connects the dryer to the vent.  I wrote about that in my May 8, 2013 blog entry.  I usually find a good sized gob of lint when I perform this chore.
     Mike recently decided that the entire vent should be cleaned.  I figured that would set us back about $150.00, and I wasn't so sure it would be that dirty.  I use the dryer for a minimum amount of time because I like to save on electricity.  I hang clothing while damp to avoid ironing, and I use a drying rack for underwear because I think the dryer hastens the breakdown of elastic.  Sheets and towels smell better when dried outside on sunny days.  Also, I use fabric softener sheets sparingly because I read that they leave a residue that causes lint to stick together.
     I know Mike's insistence that the dryer exhaust system be cleaned, like his insistence that doors be locked tight every minute of the day, is based on his wanting us to be safe.  So, clean the vent we must.  Why not try to DIY it?
     I watched some YouTube videos and discovered that our venting is the most difficult configuration that could possibly exist.  Instead of going down to the crawl space and straight out through the foundation wall, it goes up through the wall to the attic, turns 90° and travels across the attic, then it turns 90° again and goes up and out through the roof.  Still, the guys on YouTube and the helpful reviewers on the Home Depot's website swore that the Everbuilt Dryer Vent Cleaning Kit would make the 90° turns.  The kit contains a brush and six flexible rods.  Each rod is two feet long.  All the pieces screw together, and they can be attached to a drill to form a unit that works like a drain snake.  I ordered two kits since we had more than 12 feet of venting.

The Kit

The first step is to unplug the dryer and remove the flexible tube.  That thing that looks like a tin can is a clean out.  Lint that escapes the screen in the dryer drops down into the clean out.

You can clean from inside the house to the roof, or you can go up on the roof and clean downward.  We decided to start from inside.

The connections between rods screw together.  We decided feed the brush into the vent by hand at the beginning, and we used duct tape to reinforce the connections.  If you spin the brush, either by hand or with an electric drill, spin it clockwise.   If you spin counter clockwise, the connections unscrew leaving all the segments somewhere in the vent.

This is our vent.  The first 90° turn is a place I have named "Dead End."  No amount of poking got us around that bend.  We attached an electric drill and that too failed.  We decided to attack from the roof. 

Going up to the roof was only good for a photo op.  We couldn't accomplish anything else up there.  The black cap that sits on the top of the vent has a floppy lid on the inside that opens from the air pressure when the dryer blows.  It flops closed when the air stops.  I could open this floppy lid, but I couldn't get the brush into the vent.  The cap probably is removable, but we couldn't figure out how to get it off.  We envisioned damaging the shingles and causing a leak in the roof.  Oh, that part you read earlier about safety concerns doesn't extend too much to personal safety - just house fires and home invasions.  

I used the brush to clean things out as best I could.  I got a small hand full of lint from around the floppy lid.

Since we couldn't use the brush for the second half of the vent, we used a leaf blower to blast air out to the roof.  I stood outside and watched a few small pieces of lint pop out, an insignificant amount.

We got this much lint out of the dryer and the trap - about two handfuls.

We got this much out of the first part of the vent, up to the dead end - another handful.  That's not much for seven years of clothes drying.  Judging from these amounts, I'm sure whatever amount of lint might be clinging to the unbrushed  part of the vent, is not a fire hazard - yet.  

     We didn't get to use the second kit since we didn't manage to stuff more than twelve feet of flexible rods into the vent.  I'll take that kit back to Home Depot for a refund.  The cost of this job was $21.00 for one vent cleaning kit. Now my assignment is to figure out how to get around the 90° bends or how to remove and replace the vent cap.  It would be a good idea to eventually get the rest of our vent cleaned.

Is he looking up my shorts?  I think he's looking up my shorts.