Dryer Vent Cleaning in Akron, OH
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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold vents catch more lint
Your dryer pushes out warm, damp air, and from October through May that air is hitting a vent run that sits cold in a cold wall. The warm air cools fast against those walls, and the moisture in it settles on the lint instead of carrying it outside. That damp lint sticks rather than blows through, and it builds up layer by layer over the winter.
A vent that is narrowing with lint pushes more moisture back toward the dryer instead of outdoors, and that is how a slow-drying dryer and a damp laundry room start in the same place.
- 22°F
- the average winter night, and cold vents catch damp lint
- 8 months
- October through May, 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 big loads often, or your vent run to the outside is long, clean it more often than that. Lint builds up inside the duct even when the lint trap looks clean, because the trap only catches what passes close to it.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can, if the run from the dryer to the outside wall is short and mostly straight. A vent brush kit reaches a fair distance and pulls out the lint sitting in the duct. Once the run bends more than once or goes up through a floor or roof, a brush from either end will not reach the middle, and that is where lint tends to pack in hardest.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes that take two cycles to dry, or come out hot instead of just warm, are the first sign. Check the outside vent hood while the dryer runs. If the flap barely moves or you feel weak airflow, the duct is restricted. A burning smell, a dryer that shuts off mid-cycle, or lint collecting around the vent hood outside all mean the same thing and should not wait.