On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 7:31:18 AM UTC-4, NorMinn wrote:
On 7/19/2015 8:34 PM, mike wrote:
On 7/19/2015 2:44 PM, john wrote:
replying to ncben108 , john wrote:
ncben108 wrote:
Mitch, did you ever find the resolution? Found your post while doing
some
research. I have the same problem. I have to use a shop vac and clean
out
my dryer vent each week. 2.5 gallons....a week. Dryer has been SLOW to
dr
y (3 hours a load) and now it's not heating at all. The other
problem is
t
hat the vent actually runs from the dryer to the wall, underneath my
home
a
nd then back up from the grass outside, and it's at least 15 feet from
the
laundry room to the exhaust outside. I'm terrified that we are going to
ha
ve to move the vent.
ncben108 - I am having the same problem. The laundry room was real humid;
so I checked the exhaust hose thinking it had been torn. The exhaust line
was fine, so I took it off thinking it was clogged with lint, there was
some but not as much as I was expecting; additionally, it was damp and
wet. I vacuumed out the dryer exhaust and the lint catcher in the
front of
the dryer. I then washed out the exhaust line to thoroughly clean it. I
then got a shop vac and sucked out the vent in line in the laundry room
expecting more lint. Much to me surprise I sucked up about a gallon of
water. I then went outside to the vent and sucked the line from that
point. I ended up sucking out another 15 gallons of water!
Once I got all of the water out of the exhaust vent I then went back to
the laundry room and starting blowing the vent with the shop vac.
Everything seemed to be clear at that point. I have now reconnected
everything and it seems to be running fine.
I have been reading different forums during this process and I suspect my
dryer line is too long; it is at least 15 feet from the dryer to the
exhaust vent outside of the house. Also, there are at least four 90
degree
turns from the dryer to the outside vent. With that said, I read that if
you have 90 degree turns and 15 feet or more of dryer exhaust line, then
one will need to get a booster fan.
Good Luck.
Here is the reference I used :
http://fantech.net/Support/FAQs/Dryer-Exhaust/
When is a dryer exhaust necessary?
According to some dryer installation instructions and local building
codes, booster fans should be added in the dryer duct run when the length
of duct exceeds 25 feet with no bends, 20 feet with one bend or 15 feet
with 2 bends. With an existing system you may find that drying times are
far longer than the dryer manufacturers instructions give, this may
indicate that you have an duct run longer and more restrictive than your
dryer can handle. Installing a Fantech dryer booster in the duct line
will
relieve the excess pressure in the duct allowing the dryer to operate as
designed.
Have you considered insulation?
If you can keep the inside of the pipe above the dew point of the
air flowing thru it, it shouldn't condense.
This is an issue I have been working on. We bought our house in 2013,
washer and dryer same. They are in basement and the basement is very
cold in summer with AC running; somewhat leaky AC duct will be addressed
soon, as well. Couple of times I found small puddles in dryer drum when
it was empty; dryer filter screen is kept pretty clean, but was wet when
I found the puddles. Didn't make sense, and I wondered if cold basement
caused condensation, but that didn't make sense for the dryer screen.
The dryer duct is a fibber-mcgee installation that goes between furnace
(close) and out behind our gas meter. Dryer is electric. Finally took
off the louvered cover outside and cleaned out lint I could reach; not
much lint there and the louvers moved with air flow, so I thought it
looked good....curiosity finally got the best of me and I started taking
apart the rigid metal vent duct, untaping joins and......I was
astonished at the load of lint. The duct had 3 ninety-degree turns and
travels about 10-12 feet total. My shop vac was about 1/3 full of
lint!! I didn't think of checking the duct before the dryer was
installed, but the installers should have. Installation instructions
for our dryer recommend METAL, rigid or flexible, ducting with no tape
on joins. The lint is obviously years old, and the inside of the ducts
covered entirely with stuck-on lint, so had to brush, vacuum and then
wash them. Spent a pile of money for metal tape (before I read the
instructions) and the ducts need to be wrapped with something because
they are not made tubular; flat with flanges that connect together to
form tube. The horizontal section nearest the exit is most loaded with
lint and hardest to reach....dimwit put up drywall behind furnace which
blocks access to the last turn and 3' of duct. Today is the day, I
guess, that I cut a hole in the damn drywall to finish cleaning the
duct. I've never seen dryer duct with anything approaching the amount
in this. Also caulked around the duct exit, which I think is where the
water entered....but I'm thinking that when a dryer cycle finishes, the
duct is full of humid air that would condense very quickly without being
able to flow freely when cool-down cycle runs. Maybe.
If you have that much lint in the external ducts, consider how much lint you may have on the internal ducts of the dryer. Granted, 2013 isn't that long ago, but with the restricted airflow you probably have, you may also have lint built up inside the dryer itself.
I've pulled the duct work out of my dryer a few times over the years and clean it out. You'd be surprised how much can get built up in there. The moisture can also cause lint to adhere to the squirrel cage blower and get caked on. Before we switched to a front loading washer that almost dries the clothes by itself, the blower-adhered lint was much worse.
Since the blower gets exposed when you pull the duct work, it easy enough to check. Maybe not so easy to chisel off, but easy enough the check. ;-)