Dryer Vent Cleaning

A dryer works by pushing out hot, moist air so that your clothes can dry. If your dryer vent to the outside becomes obstructed by lint, the air won’t have the ability to expel moisture since it was created to do. The result will be trapped moisture which requires more heat energy to vanish.

If you start to notice one of those things, it’s possible that you have a lint issue.

It takes longer to dry clothing

With warm, moist air kept in the dryer drum, it takes much longer and more heat to dry the clothes. This is hard in your dryer, your garments, and reduces the life span of both.

Clothing is hot to the touch

Clothing is supposed to be hot and fresh from the dryer, right? Wrong. If your clothes – or your dryer are clearly hot to the touch at the end of a cycle, it means the dryer isn’t exhausting through the vent properly. Everything overheats – and overheating is never a fantastic thing.

You smell something burning

Bad news – lint is quite caustic, and once it builds up in the exhaust port, lint trap, and drum casing, it may catch on fire. Between 2010 and 2014 there were nearly 16,000 home fires reported to U.S. Fire Departments – and the majority of them were due to dryers. In a third of the dryer fires, lint build up was a significant element.

The port hood does not open

If the dryer duct hood flap does not open, you probably have lint build up there and in the dryer hose. This is a fantastic time to clean out the lint out – or have a professional do it for you.

If your dryer is properly installed, lint should not collect excessively from the exhaust vent or dryer hose, especially if you’re cleaning the dryer vent screen regularly after every use.

Your dryer drum should not need cleaning if you don’t regularly dry pet items or sandy, gritty clothes. Gently shake out any hair or grit, and possibly wipe down the drum with a moist cloth after drying those products.

Lint build-up does happen, however – and has to be taken seriously. You ought to check it yourself regularly – or better still, have an HVAC professional to give you a hand.

In PowerPro Carpet and Rug Cleaning Service, we utilize the best products in the market. One product we use while cleaning your dryer vent is HEPA vacuum equipment. HEPA vacuums, or high-energy particulate air, filter around 99.7% of particles.

Why Dryer Ducts Needed to Be Cleaned

The U.S. Fire Administration reports that each and every year over 2,900 home fires are started by clothes dryers, as well as the significant cause of these fires is a buildup of lint because of lack of simple maintenance on the part of the operator. Each load of laundry which goes through your washing machine also makes its way to your clothes dryer includes lint-mostly modest particles of fiber and fabric that are loosened from clothes from the action of agitating water.

The removable lint filter in your dryer simply can’t catch all of the lint freed from clothing. The lint which makes it past the filter becomes trapped in crevices deep within the lint filter trap and all over the dryer ductwork as it makes its way to the external vent opening. After the lint builds up, they restrict airflow and result in overheating, which can spark the lint itself.

There are several warning signs that dangerous lint buildup has occurred on your dryer ductwork system, indicating that it needs a thorough cleaning:

• Clothes take longer to wash or don’t dry completely
• Clothes are thicker than normal at the end of the drying cycle
• Outside dryer gets really hot
• Outdoor exhaust vent flapper does not open very much, indicating low exhaust speed
• Laundry distance becomes more humid than normal
• Burnt odor is evident in the laundry area