Our laundry dryer is vented to the outside through the shortest possible
path, a 4" through the wall vent located directly inline with the
dryer's exhaust outle., Its "pipe" protrudes from the inside wall by
only about 1".

An 18" long piece of aluminum foil/coil spring vent duct allows just
enough room to move the dryer away to tighten the hose clamp joining it
to the vent.

Last week I noticed that the plastic outside part of the vent was bulged
out and cracked and two of its three louvers had sailed off into the sunset.

Seems like someone had pushed the dryer against the wall hard enough to
force the "pipe" to bust the plastic on the outside, which was brittle
as glass after nearly twenty years of exposure to New England weather.

I was pleased to find an *identical* replacement at ACE Hardware, and a
bargain at only $2.98. The plastic parts looked like they'd been shot in
the same mold as our old one, and the four mnounting screw holes lined
up perfectly, but I'd bet that the mold is now located in a factory in
China.

The point of all this is that before calling the job done I measured the
"safe distance" between the back of the dryer and the wall, ripped a two
foot long piece of 2 by 4 down to that dimension and laid it on the
floor behind the dryer. If you have a similar venting setup you might
consider doing the same.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."