Chimney Care Company's Blog
Dryer vent cleaning and repairs
How is your clothing dryer performing? If you notice that it’s not drying loads of laundry as quickly as it used to, or if you notice that it seems to be working extra hard to keep up with your wet laundry, you might be due for dryer vent cleaning or repair. Here is what you need to know about having your dryer vents cleaned or repaired.
Why you need to have your dryer vents cleaned regularly
Many homeowners don’t realize that they should have their clothing dryer vents cleaned and inspected at least once per year to reduce their risk of a dangerous home fire. When you run your clothing dryer, lint is generated. While much of the lint gets caught in the removable lint trap you know to clean regularly, other bits of lint bypass the lint trap. This moist lint is very sticky. First, it will stick to the walls of your clothing dryer vents, and then it will stick to itself. Over time, the lint will build up until it restricts airflow to your dryer. At that point, your clothes dryer can overheat and catch fire. To prevent this, you should be scheduling an annual dryer vent cleaning and inspection.
What professional dryer vent cleaning entails
The only way to ensure that your dryer vents are free from dangerous clogs of lint or debris is with a professional dryer vent cleaning. Professional vent cleaners utilize specialized brushes and vacuums to completely remove any lint or debris from your vents. Professional dryer vent cleaners use high-powered rotating brushes that scrub the sides of your dryer vents cleaned. Then, they apply high-powered vacuums to the end of the dryer vent to fully and cleanly suck any lint or debris out of the dryer vent, without allowing any of the mess to enter your home.
How to tell if you need to have your clothing dryer vents repaired
Sometimes poor clothing dryer performance isn’t a result of a buildup of lint; it’s the result of a damaged dryer vent that’s preventing your dryer from venting properly. That’s another reason a professional dryer vent cleaning also is crucial: A professional dryer vent cleaning also should include a professional dryer vent inspection. During a professional dryer vent inspection, your technician will check all of your vent’s connections, look for damage and evaluate whether your dryer vents are adequately sized and adequate materials.
If your dryer isn’t performing properly, the only way to improve its performance and save your home from a potential fire hazard is with a professional dryer vent cleaning and inspection. The cleaning should help to restore the function of your dryer, and if there is damage to the vent, your inspection will spot it. If you are ready to improve the function of your dryer, call Chimney Care Co. to schedule your dryer vent cleaning today!
Why you should have your dryer vents cleaned annually
What in-home fire risk do the National Fire Protection Association, FEMA, the Chimney Safety Institute of America and countless home-advice experts all warn against? It is your clothes dryer. Clothes dryers are a leading cause of home fires in the United States.
Each year, clothes dryers are responsible for as many as 15,000 home fires, totaling more than $230 million in property damage. The risk of a clothes dryer fire increases each winter. So what can you do to lower your risk of a fire sparked by a clothes dryer? You should get your dryer vents professionally cleaned.
Lint buildup and your dryer
Most homeowners assume that they take care of their dryer by cleaning the lint trap in between each load of laundry. While this is an important step to reduce your home’s risk of a clothes dryer fire, it’s not enough. As you dry your clothes, towels, and linens, lint bypasses the lint trap. The lint, still damp from the dryer clings to the walls of the dryer vent. The layer of lint covering the vent walls continues to grow as the damp lint sticks to itself. Eventually, your dryer vents become completely clogged, and that’s where the danger is.
Clogged dryer vents and fires
So how do clogged dryer vents lead to fires? When your dryer vents are clogged, your clothes dryer can’t “breathe.” Hot air builds up within the dryer and dryer vents. The dryer’s heating element then overheat and ignite, which lead to a devastating fire. The flammable lint itself can catch fire due to the extreme heat of the dryer. To avoid the risk of a fire caused by your dryer vents, the National Fire Protection Association and the Chimney Safety Institute of America recommends having your clothes dryer vents cleaned by a professional at least once per year.
Professional dryer vent cleaning
You can perform a quick cleaning around your dryer’s vents to lessen the buildup of lint and keep your dryer running efficiently. To effectively clean your dryer vents of lint buildup, you need a professional dryer vent cleaning. Professional dryer vent technicians use high-powered rotating brushes and vacuums to clear your vents completely of lint. The rotating brushes free the lint from the walls of your dryer vents, while the vacuum sucks the loosened lint from the vents.
The risk of dryer vent fire rise each winter; don’t put your home at risk! Call the Chimney Care Co. to schedule your professional dryer vent cleaning to reduce fire risk today!
When was the last time you have your clothing dryer vents cleaned?
Keeping your clothing dryer vents cleaned is an incredibly important part of your home maintenance. Clean dryer vents help to prevent the dryer from overheating to cause a fire. A clean dryer vent also runs more efficiently while saving you time and money, as it takes less time for it to dry each load of laundry. When was the last time you had your dryer vents cleaned? How do you know it is time to get your clothing dryer vents cleaned?
The experts in the industry recommend getting your dryer vents cleaned at least once every year. However, if you do more laundry than the average household, your dryer vents might need to be cleaned more often. If you struggle with remembering the last time you had your dryer vents cleaned, then it is likely that it’s time to schedule a dryer vent cleaning. Here are some signs for a clogged dryer vent.
Signs of a dysfunctional Dryer Vent
- Longer dry times. One of the first signs that your dryer vents need a cleaning is longer than normal dry times when doing a single load of laundry. When your dryer vents are clogged, you’ll have to run additional dryer cycles for your clothes to dry completely. A single load of laundry shouldn’t take longer than 30 to 40 minutes to dry, and heavier loads of towels or linens shouldn’t take more than 50 minutes to dry.
- Lint buildup. Your dryer could be bogged down with an accumulation of lint. When dryer vents are clogged, you might see lint collecting around the lint trap, on the floor behind the dryer, or even outside around your dryer vent exhaust.
- An overheating dryer. When your dryer vents are clogged, your dryer can’t vent and cool itself as it should. As a result, the dryer will overheat while running. A dryer that’s hot to the touch, or if there is a heat build up in your laundry room when your dryer is running. These are both signs of clogged dryer vents. You might also notice that the clothes coming out of the dryer seem unusually hot.
- Strong smells in the laundry room. There are a variety of smells as a result of clogged dryer vents. While the dryer is running, you might smell a strong burning odor while the dryer overheats, or the smell of your dryer sheets seem unusually strong. If clothes sit damp in the dryer for a long time, your laundry or your laundry room might also take on a musty smell.
Call the Chimney Care Co. Professionals
Clogged dryer vents can put your home at risk of potential dangers such as a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. If it’s been awhile since you last serviced your dryer vents, or if you have noticed some signs that your dryer vents have become clogged, call the professionals at Chimney Care Co. to schedule your dryer vent cleaning today!
Signs Your Dryer Vents Needs to be Cleaned
Just like your chimney, your clothing dryer vent requires regular cleaning to prevent it from becoming 
clogged with debris and posing fire and carbon monoxide hazards. Each time you dry a load of laundry, tiny pieces of moist lint bypass the lint screen. First, those moist pieces of lint cling to the sides of your dryer vent, and then they cling to each other until the vent becomes clogged. A clogged vent can overheat, igniting the highly flammable lint or your dryer’s heating mechanism, or it can block carbon monoxide from exiting the vent, forcing it back into your home.
Because of these dangers, the National Fire Protection Association recommends that dryer vents are cleaned at least once per year, or more often for dryers that do a high volume of laundry. When it comes to determining whether your dryer vent need to be cleaned, your dryer will send you signs that its vent is clogged with lint and are no longer working properly. Those signs include:
- Longer than normal drying times. When your dryer isn’t venting properly, it can no longer operate efficiently. That means it takes longer to dry each load of clothes. One of the first signs that a vent is dirty is clothes that are still wet when the drying cycle stops.
- Laundry that is hot to the touch. A clogged vent prevents heat from escaping the dryer. That means you may notice that clothes feel unusually hot when the cycle ends and you go to remove them from the dryer.
- An overheated laundry room. Similarly, if heat isn’t escaping your dryer, it will build up within the laundry room. If your laundry room becomes warm when the dryer is running, that is a sure sign the dryer vent needs to be cleaned.
- A burning, musty or overwhelming laundry smell. A clogged dryer vent also can cause odors to permeate your laundry room when the dryer is in operation. When the vent is clogged, you may smell a burning odor, a musty odor or the overwhelming scent of your fabric softener.
- The accumulation of lint or debris. If lint has filled your dryer vent, new lint doesn’t have anywhere else to go. If the vent is clogged, you may notice lint or debris accumulating around the lint trap, behind the dryer or even on the ground below the spot where the dryer vent exits the home.
- A closed dryer vent flap. The flap that covers your dryer vent outside should open when the dryer is in use, with the force of the air that is being exhausted. If that flap is remaining closed, it means that air is no longer escaping through the dryer vent.
If you notice any of these signs that your dryer vent has become clogged with lint, call The Chimney Care Co. today to schedule a dryer vent cleaning. Our technicians will use rotating brushes to loosen the lint from your dryer vent and then clear away the debris with a high-powered vacuum. We will also inspect your dryer vent system to ensure that it is free from damage and exhausting your dryer safely and efficiently.
The importance of dryer vent cleaning
There’s a fire hazard lurking in your home: Your clothing dryer, or more specifically, your dirty dryer vents. The lint that builds up in your dryer can cause your dryer to overheat and ignite. On top of that, the in itself is highly combustible and likely to cause a fire.
How often should dryer vents be cleaned?
Dryer vents should be cleaned at least once per year, according to the National Fire Protection Association. There are, however, other factors that could lead you to require more frequent cleanings. If you have pets in your home, their fur sticks to your clothing and linens and leads to additional buildup in your dryer vents. If you do a lot of laundry each week, this also means your dryer vents will become clogged more quickly and require more frequent cleanings. You also will want to call in professionals if you notice any changes in your dryer’s function, such as clothes taking a longer time to dry or become abnormally hot, or if you notice the laundry room becoming very warm or filling with the scent of your dryer sheets while the dryer is running.
Why does professional dryer vent cleaning matter?
It can be tempting to pull out your vacuum and use the attachments to clear away the lint from your dryer and dryer vents, but a do-it-yourself dryer vent cleaning isn’t adequate to keep you dryer running safely. There are many catch points where lint is likely to build up, and professionals know where these catch points are, how to access them and how best to clean them. Most dryer vents are made from a flexible, accordioned material that twists and turns to reach an outside terminus. While dryer vent cleaning attachments are available for home vacuum cleaners, they do an inadequate job of reaching all of the nooks and crannies in a dryer vent, leaving homeowners with a false sense of security. A professional dryer vent cleaning utilizes a rotating brush that ensures that the dryer vent is totally cleared of lint and debris.
What are the other benefits of dryer vent cleaning?
In addition to reducing your home’s risk of a dryer fire or carbon monoxide buildup from your dryer, dryer vent cleaning comes with some other benefits. When dryer vents are cleared, your dryer operates at maximum efficiency, reducing your energy bills by lowering drying times. Clean vents also extend the life or your dryer because your dryer does not have to work as hard to dry each load of clothes. When you have professionals clean your vents, they also will inspect the vents and connections for any signs of weakness or damage that could cause a hazard in your home.
To keep your home safe from the dangers of dirty dryer vents, call the professionals at The Chimney Care Co. We’ll make sure your dryer vents are completely clear of debris, free from damage and a safe part of your home’s infrastructure.