Belly-button lint, pocket lint and dryer vent lint

[Ozz]

One of these, can cause your home to catch on fire.

Routine cleaning of your dryer and the vent system should be a scheduled event on your ‘Honey-do’ list.

Many homes are using foil and plastic venting hose, these are not the proper materials to vent your home dryers. A solid metal pipe should be used, I vented my dryer with a neat gismo I bought at Sears, it is a telescoping aluminum pipe that is flat in the riser in back, so it allows the dryer to sit back as far as it can go. http://tiny.cc/Lint

When using a round vent, it is often compressed to half it’s diameter. The plastic and foil vents ‘accordion’ that is, they can be extended, and compressed, these flexible parts of the vent hose can and do, trap lint. Hoses have plugged completely with lint, this leads to dangerous overheating….and fires.

Experts state that up to 30 to 40% of the lint by-passes the lint screen and gets caught around the dryer drum and inside other areas of the dryer.

Fire danger?, you bet. A consumer commission estimates an average 10 death’s, over 300 injuries and $80 million dollars in damages.

Sue and I pulled our electric dryer out, un-hooked the venting and cleaned ours out, it is really very lightweight. The back comes off with just a few hand tools. It was amazing how much lint was wrapped around safety switches, and temperature controls. Our dryer worked so much better after the internal cleaning.

You can do this, (unplug the dryer first)

I would not try this with a gas dryer, get a qualified professional for that job, gas is extremely dangerous.

Sleep better next week, get this cleaning done, your homeowner policy holder will love you for it.

[junglejim]

Ozz, that is great advice. Thank you for sharing and reminding some of us that have overlooked that part of the honey do. I for one am often reminded by a good friend of mine that lost his entire resturant by fire due to a dirty dryer. He used linens that he washed and dryed onsite, and one night after closing the dryer caught fire due to excess lint built up that had been smoldering. His building was a complete loss.

[Ozz]

You are welcome, it seems there are so many things we should be doing, and don't do.
One of my customers had a bathroom exhaust fan that caught fire, all that toilet paper is so linty, it gets caught up in the fan. Now, I clean all of the fans that are dirty, I brush them and blow them out with my small bottle of CO2

[junglejim]

Another good one. I have never heard of, let alone thought of that.

[Bill-N-Donna]

Ozz, you are so correct on this; thanks for the re-minder. This is something that is so easily put off and neglected but needs regular attention. Furnace filters should be checked on a regular basis also!

[Ozz]

Bill, thanks for mentioning the filters, I can remember 4 furnace calls in the past few weeks that were nothing but clogged filters, put filters in, replaced the safety high limit and gave them the bill...

[PapaBeav]

As a retired gas serviceman from PG&E out here in California I know all about gas appliances. Any time you have a gas dryer that has a vent with over a 10ft lateral run it should have an exhaust fan (which none have) to get rid of the lint. Because you know what happens to lint after it travels just a few feet, gravity takes over and it piles up in the vent. Therefore those of you that have a long vent on your dryer you should take it apart once in awhile and clean the lint out before you have a fire. Yes, when I was working I did see a few lint fires.

[Ozz]

Good advice Rich, I will add to that, don't use the foil and plastic wire type hose, use smooth metal piping

[Ozz]

Hey Rich, I get many calls correcting 'Red tags', small enclosed furnace, and water heater rooms (as you know) need sufficient combustion air, I cut in two registers, or grills, and also seal up return boots some moron cut grills into.
There are so many unqualified people doing furnace repairs
I don't think you know me, but I am a Journeyman Pipefitter, don't know everything, but have 35 years experience and 6 years of mechanical schooling. Good to meet you

[PapaBeav]

Nice to meet you Ozz, I was a Serviceman with PG&E for 34 yrs and saw just about everything there was to see.

[Ozz]

quote:Originally posted by PapaBeav

Nice to meet you Ozz, I was a Serviceman with PG&E for 34 yrs and saw just about everything there was to see.

It was an interesting job, do you miss it at times?

[ARJ]

Another idea is to use a leaf blower to blow lint out of the exhaust pipe. Most long runs of pipe (mine is about 15' under the house) are hidden inside the house somewhere or run through the crawl space.

[Ozz]

quote:Originally posted by ARJ

Another idea is to use a leaf blower to blow lint out of the exhaust pipe. Most long runs of pipe (mine is about 15' under the house) are hidden inside the house somewhere or run through the crawl space.

Good tip! I will pass that along to customers.

[DarMar]

Ozz, after 30 years in the appliance business I couldn't agree with you more!!! We spend so much time trying to make our homes safer by practicing fire safety and then THERE in the laundry room sits one of the most dangerous ticking time bombs found in the home. Awareness of such as you have pointed out will save lives. All forms of that ribbed ducting should be outlawed and removed from stores, besides the rib design actually impedes the flow of air, something you DO NOT want to do with a dryer! The design you have installed will work very well, IMHO, but I would watch out for those two collection areas that have been created at the bottom and top of the vertical tube. Although I have never used your set up I would bet that those are the only two areas where dust may now collect?

[Ozz]

That may be true, however that is the strongest velocity point. It would be hard to have two smooth 90 degree ells and yet have the dryer sit close to the wall for most folks, it is sort of a compromise. I have my Maytag 220 volt dryer in our Montana vented this way because of the close tolerances.

[ARJ]

Oh! Belly button lint. Anybody got a shop vac?

[Ozz]

quote:Originally posted by ARJ

Oh! Belly button lint. Anybody got a shop vac?

I have found that a grapefruit spoon works nicely....

[ARJ]

quote:Originally posted by Ozz

I have found that a grapefruit spoon works nicely....

OUCH!

[simonsrf]

Ozz,

Thanks for the reminder, seems that commons sense would warrant cleaning the hoses and the filters for safety reasons.

Another thought that may make some more sense.....your dryer and furnace work more efficiently with less resistance..that means saving $$!

[Ozz]

You, as usual, are right on! How are you two?
Sue's mom is in the hospital up in Bemidgi? (Minnesota) spelling..
So, it's just me, the cats and the Deer...oh, and the snow falling.