re-routing a dryer vent
 

My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD

RD wrote:

My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?


Check on the limit of exhaust length--it'll be in the owners' manual. I
think something less than 10-ft is about all that is supposed to be
used, if I recall.

How/where depends mostly on the location of the dryer wrt to outside
wall(s) and construction details not provided...

"RD" wrote in message
oups.com...
My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD

Really does not matter gas or electric for the vent.
New house? Call the inspectors where it was built and or check other homes
to see where they vent. If yours is different then call the builder and have
it corrected.

Putting 90 elbows in dryer runs is a REALLY BAD idea. Unless you plan on
putting in a booster fan.

Consider going straight up through the roof. At least 5 inch pipe. My last
home was that way

The poster who suggested check the dryer specs had a great idea.

To add to Bozarth & SQLit, the present venting arrangement may be a
violation of code. I'd check with your Building Official / Inspector.

Use metal duct, a code requirement in many locations.

Use the most direct path possible.
Allow for clean out, particularly if you vent up.

Going "around a door" isn't clear.
If that means running the duct up and over, heed Bozarth.
TB

Is there a safety code question here? I always thought that an
attached garage required special drywall (5/8") and doors, so that the
garage is air tight from the house. I could envision fumes, CO, from
the garage area migrating into the house backwards through a dryer vent
when a gas appliance in the house (furnace or water heater) is drawing
air for combustion. --Phil


RD wrote:

My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD


--
Phil Munro Dept of Electrical & Computer Engin
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, Ohio 44555

"Phil Munro" wrote in message
...
Is there a safety code question here? I always thought that an
attached garage required special drywall (5/8") and doors, so that the
garage is air tight from the house.

Yeah, fire regulations.

I could envision fumes, CO, from
the garage area migrating into the house backwards through a dryer vent
when a gas appliance in the house (furnace or water heater) is drawing
air for combustion. --Phil


RD wrote:

My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD


--
Phil Munro Dept of Electrical & Computer Engin
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, Ohio 44555

"SQLit" wrote in message
...

"RD" wrote in message
oups.com...
My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD

Really does not matter gas or electric for the vent.
New house? Call the inspectors where it was built and or check other homes
to see where they vent. If yours is different then call the builder and
have
it corrected.

Putting 90 elbows in dryer runs is a REALLY BAD idea. Unless you plan on
putting in a booster fan.

Consider going straight up through the roof. At least 5 inch pipe. My
last
home was that way

Its should be the last thing you do as you don't really want to add another
hole to your roof and a way for water to get in.


The poster who suggested check the dryer specs had a great idea.

RD wrote:

My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is always
too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors and/or
windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the pain in the
___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to re-rout the vent
outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this? The current vent
location is such that I would need to go around a door before directing
the vent to the back of the house. Due to the thickness of dryer vent
pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run this within the walls,
right? I guess I would have to run the vent exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.



Something is fishy here. A gas dryer vented into a garage is going
to put potentially dangerous products-of-combustion into the garage in
addition to all the damp, dusty air. I would think that this would be
a serious code violation that the builder should deal with. You
wouldn't vent an ordinary gas furnace into a garage. Why would you do
this with a gas dryer?

If the dryer is at ground level and you have a crawlspace or basement,
I would think you would want to route it down and out to the nearest
wall.

Beachcomber

RD wrote:
My builder vented my dryer (gas) into my garage. I suppose this was
within code but this seems like a really bad idea. My garage is
always too hot and humid despite my efforts to open the garage doors
and/or windows while the dryer is running. Also, the lint is the
pain in the ___ - making the garage constantly dusty. I'd like to
re-rout the vent outside. Any suggestions on an easy way to do this?
The current vent location is such that I would need to go around a
door before directing the vent to the back of the house. Due to the
thickness of dryer vent pipe, it seems that I wouldn't want to run
this within the walls, right? I guess I would have to run the vent
exposed in the garage?

Any help is appreciated.

RD

Hopefully it was not code were you live, but some places don't have very
good codes. My only comments a

Use metal duct (not corrugated) and not plastic!
Use as short a path as possible (see dryer specs)
If it seems impossible, call in an experienced professional. They have
the experience to find answers where none are apparent.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Thank you all for your input. You were right to suspect a code
violation, as did I. I spoke to the local building inspector who tells
me that the code specifies that the vent be to the outside. Apparently
there's a loophole - an attached garage can be interpreted as being
'outside' the home. A lazy builder with no integrity like mine, could
lean on this loophole. The inspector tells me that he does not permit
this, but the builder could have done it after he was gone. My
locality in SE Pennsylvania requires:
- No longer than a 25ft. run for the vent pipe. (unless your dryer has
a cfm rating that can handle a longer run)
- Each 90 degree turn in the route counts as 5 feet of the run.
- If you exceed the 25 ft you must install a booster fan.
- Smooth surface metal ducts (not corrugated) must be used.
- No screws can be used in fastening the pipe together. Foil-backed
tape must seal joints in the pipe.

I will probably drill through my laundry room floor to run the 4 in
pipe along the floor joists in the basement and then vent out the
nearest wall. This would put my vent less than a foot above ground
level, howver, so I'll need to find a critter cage to put around the
vent.

RD wrote:
Thank you all for your input. You were right to suspect a code
violation, as did I. I spoke to the local building inspector who
tells me that the code specifies that the vent be to the outside.
Apparently there's a loophole - an attached garage can be interpreted
as being 'outside' the home. A lazy builder with no integrity like
mine, could lean on this loophole. The inspector tells me that he
does not permit this, but the builder could have done it after he was
gone. My locality in SE Pennsylvania requires:
- No longer than a 25ft. run for the vent pipe. (unless your dryer
has a cfm rating that can handle a longer run)
- Each 90 degree turn in the route counts as 5 feet of the run.
- If you exceed the 25 ft you must install a booster fan.
- Smooth surface metal ducts (not corrugated) must be used.
- No screws can be used in fastening the pipe together. Foil-backed
tape must seal joints in the pipe.

Good code.



I will probably drill through my laundry room floor to run the 4 in
pipe along the floor joists in the basement and then vent out the
nearest wall. This would put my vent less than a foot above ground
level, howver, so I'll need to find a critter cage to put around the
vent.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit