On Wed, 9 Apr 2014 20:23:43 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 2:26:44 AM UTC-4, nestork wrote:
Bob Haller:



It probably is the vent.



I don't know about your dryer, but when I bought three Maytag coin

operated commercial dryers, the company I bought them from sent out a

contractor/monkey to install the vents.



And, as you would expect, he did it the fastest easiest way he could,

which wasn't the best way to do it. You see, he gets paid a flat rate

for connecting the dryer vent, so there's no incentive to do it the best

way he can. He ended up using the white vinyl tubing that I

subsequently learned was banned for dryer installations because it was a

fire hazard. The installer pretended to be dumb about that because the

white vinyl hose made for faster easier installations. And, of course,

the company I bought the dryers from didn't care since they'd already

made their profit. How well the dryers worked was of no concern to

them.



When you replace the venting, keep in mind that the best air flow is

obtained by using the shortest, straightest, smoothest wall solid

aluminum or galvanized steel vent piping possible. And, going from 4

inch diameter up to 6 or even 8 inch diameter vent pipe, if doable, will

help too. As long as you can get a louvered cap to fit on the end

that'll let the air out but won't let the rain in, then bigger is

better. Any heating contractor can show you what's available in 6 and 8

inch louvered vents. And, DO NOT use short sheet metal screws to hold

the sections of vent pipe together. You can only do that on the flue

venting from gas fired boilers, furnaces and water heaters. With

clothes dryers ONLY use duct tape at the joints to hold the vent piping

together. Lint can accumulate on the screws and cause a fire hazard.



Finally, if you want to do a Cadillac job installing that vent piping,

if your vent pipe has to run vertically, DON'T connect the dryer to the

bottom of that vertical vent pipe. It's smarter to use a 45 degree

saddle (see image below)



https://www.indoorcomfortsupply.com/...dle_Tap_45.jpg



to connect the dryer to the SIDE of that vertical vent pipe a foot or

two above the bottom of the vertical vent pipe. Then, put a removable

clean out cap at the bottom of the vertical vent pipe. That way, lint

that is to heavy to be carried by the air stream will fall out and

collect at the bottom of the vertical vent pipe where it can be cleaned

out by removing the clean out cap. That means all the heaviest lint

collects at the bottom of the vent pipe so you don't need to clear the

lint out of the rest of the vent piping nearly as often. nestork

I took a sample of that white plastic vent hose and tried to light it. even with a propane torch it burned poorly......
But it is not approved for use on a drier - or a stove vent hood -
and it is useless for bathroom venting as well. Lets face it. It is
CRAP.

"bob haller" wrote in message
...

I took a sample of that white plastic vent hose and tried to light it.
even with a propane torch it burned poorly......


It only has to melt and then the fire inside it gets to the outside. If the
dryer is actually running when the lint catches fire, the blower in the
dryer will feed it hot air and blow the fire out of the sides of the vent
pipe.



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posted for all of us...

And I know how to SNIP


On Wed, 9 Apr 2014 20:23:43 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 2:26:44 AM UTC-4, nestork wrote:
Bob Haller:



It probably is the vent.



I don't know about your dryer, but when I bought three Maytag coin

operated commercial dryers, the company I bought them from sent out a

contractor/monkey to install the vents.



And, as you would expect, he did it the fastest easiest way he could,

which wasn't the best way to do it. You see, he gets paid a flat rate

for connecting the dryer vent, so there's no incentive to do it the best

way he can. He ended up using the white vinyl tubing that I

subsequently learned was banned for dryer installations because it was a

fire hazard. The installer pretended to be dumb about that because the

white vinyl hose made for faster easier installations. And, of course,

the company I bought the dryers from didn't care since they'd already

made their profit. How well the dryers worked was of no concern to

them.



When you replace the venting, keep in mind that the best air flow is

obtained by using the shortest, straightest, smoothest wall solid

aluminum or galvanized steel vent piping possible. And, going from 4

inch diameter up to 6 or even 8 inch diameter vent pipe, if doable, will

help too. As long as you can get a louvered cap to fit on the end

that'll let the air out but won't let the rain in, then bigger is

better. Any heating contractor can show you what's available in 6 and 8

inch louvered vents. And, DO NOT use short sheet metal screws to hold

the sections of vent pipe together. You can only do that on the flue

venting from gas fired boilers, furnaces and water heaters. With

clothes dryers ONLY use duct tape at the joints to hold the vent piping

together. Lint can accumulate on the screws and cause a fire hazard.



Finally, if you want to do a Cadillac job installing that vent piping,

if your vent pipe has to run vertically, DON'T connect the dryer to the

bottom of that vertical vent pipe. It's smarter to use a 45 degree


+25

--
Tekkie

On 4/7/2014 8:31 PM, Tekkie® wrote:
The Daring Dufas posted for all of us...

And I know how to SNIP


On 4/5/2014 5:42 PM, Nil wrote:
My 25-year-old Hotpoint dryer is getting flaky. I have to run it
two or three times to dry a load of wet clothes. I cleaned out
the vent pipe and got quite a lot of lint out, but it still
doesn't dry very well. I'm guessing either the heating element is
partially dead or the thermostat is bad or both. I haven't opened
up the machine to test the parts yet. A new heating element seems
to cost about $100.

I'm wondering if modern dryers are better, more efficient, and
more reliable these days than they were in the late '80s/early
'90s. Do you think it's worth sinking $100 into such an old
appliance, or would it be better to cut my losses and put the
money toward a new one?

If it was clogged with lint, I'm guessing the high limit(over temp
safety) has been clicking on and off on and off until it is worn
out. There could also be a bad connection somewhere since 1/4"
Faston connectors can and will go bad when subjected to continuous
high current loads. The heating element is either good or bad not
intermittent. That's a Klixon or connection problem. The main
thermostats in conventional simple electric clothes dryers don't
usually go bad and will outlast everything else but can still have
bad connections. Do a little trouble shooting. When I was helping
my late friend GB with residential HVAC work, there was always that
customer who would say, "I think it's a bad thermostat." ^_^

Oh yea, check all the connections first. Look for something loose
or burnt. ^_^

TDD

And the Faston connectors are high temperature rated vs the cheap
crimp ons you find most places.

The Faston connectors on the heating elements will be the high temp
nickel from the factory and possibly on the other end if it's a
fiberglass/silicone lead wire but the Faston connector on the end
connected to the switch or relay can be a standard tin plated copper but
the things can still come loose and burn. The old dryers had asbestos
insulation on the heating element wires until the fiberglass insulated
wires came along then I started seeing a slick polymer high temp
insulation possibly something similar to Teflon. ^_^

TDD

Here's a follow-up to my post from a few weeks ago...

I ended up, if not fixing the problem, at least postponing it for a
while...

I had already bought a kit for cleaning the dryer vent. It's a brush on
a long, flexible stalk that you attach to your power drill. It got a
good amount of lint our of the vent (which is about 8 feet long and
embedded in the ceiling) but the dryer only worked slightly better. I
then opened up the front of the dryer in order to try to check out the
heating elements and thermostats and to clean out whatever other lint I
saw. What I found was the fan that draws the moist air out of the drum
and sends it on its way to the vent. It was absolutely caked with hard
compacted lint, to the point that there was little or no gap between
the fins. I spent about a half-hour with a toothbrush, scraper, and
vacuum cleaner and got it all out of there. And waddayaknow? It works
waaaaay better now. I've only had opportunity to run a couple of loads
since then, but I can now dry a load of heavy clothes (jeans, towels,
etc.) in one pass rather than three. I'm not sure whether there aren't
other issues, but the machine is very usable now. I think I can safely
put off spending several hundred dollars on a new one that's not likely
to last as long as the one I have now.

So, thank you all for your suggestions. I've got them archived for the
next time the machine threatens to go tits up.


On 05 Apr 2014, Nil wrote in
alt.home.repair:

My 25-year-old Hotpoint dryer is getting flaky. I have to run it
two or three times to dry a load of wet clothes. I cleaned out the
vent pipe and got quite a lot of lint out, but it still doesn't
dry very well. I'm guessing either the heating element is
partially dead or the thermostat is bad or both. I haven't opened
up the machine to test the parts yet. A new heating element seems
to cost about $100.

I'm wondering if modern dryers are better, more efficient, and
more reliable these days than they were in the late '80s/early
'90s. Do you think it's worth sinking $100 into such an old
appliance, or would it be better to cut my losses and put the
money toward a new one?

On 4/24/2014 8:48 PM, Nil wrote:

What I found was the fan that draws the moist air out of the drum
and sends it on its way to the vent. It was absolutely caked with hard
compacted lint, to the point that there was little or no gap between
the fins. I spent about a half-hour with a toothbrush, scraper, and
vacuum cleaner and got it all out of there. And waddayaknow? It works
waaaaay better now.


So, thank you all for your suggestions. I've got them archived for the
next time the machine threatens to go tits up.


Half hour work to save $500 is a good deal. Thanks for the update and
happy ending.

Nil wrote:
Here's a follow-up to my post from a few weeks ago...

I ended up, if not fixing the problem, at least postponing it for a
while...

I had already bought a kit for cleaning the dryer vent. It's a brush on
a long, flexible stalk that you attach to your power drill. It got a
good amount of lint our of the vent (which is about 8 feet long and
embedded in the ceiling) but the dryer only worked slightly better. I
then opened up the front of the dryer in order to try to check out the
heating elements and thermostats and to clean out whatever other lint I
saw. What I found was the fan that draws the moist air out of the drum
and sends it on its way to the vent. It was absolutely caked with hard
compacted lint, to the point that there was little or no gap between
the fins. I spent about a half-hour with a toothbrush, scraper, and
vacuum cleaner and got it all out of there.

....snip...

If I'm not mistaken, one of the first suggestions (and many thereafter) was
to make sure the _inside_ of the unit was clear of lint. I'm very surprised
that you went 25 years without cleaning the internal ductwork, fan, etc.
and never had a problem before now.

I'd estimate that I clean my dryer about every two years. I take the back
off and vacuum everything, including the blower wheel, the ductwork where
the lint filter goes, the vent pipe, the vent in the wall, everyplace.

Sometimes I find other things that could use a little TLC, like the foam
seal around the blower housing, etc. Even an inexpensive dryer can be kept
going for years with just a little preventative maintenance.

25 years of lint built up on the blower wheel? That must have been pretty
bad.

On 4/24/2014 9:28 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


If I'm not mistaken, one of the first suggestions (and many thereafter) was
to make sure the _inside_ of the unit was clear of lint. I'm very surprised
that you went 25 years without cleaning the internal ductwork, fan, etc.
and never had a problem before now.

I'd estimate that I clean my dryer about every two years. I take the back
off and vacuum everything, including the blower wheel, the ductwork where
the lint filter goes, the vent pipe, the vent in the wall, everyplace.

Sometimes I find other things that could use a little TLC, like the foam
seal around the blower housing, etc. Even an inexpensive dryer can be kept
going for years with just a little preventative maintenance.

25 years of lint built up on the blower wheel? That must have been pretty
bad.

I'd bet that 99.5% of the people that own dryers never clean them
inside. My present one is probably due for a cleaning and I'm not sure
what to even take apart yet. I'm a stickler for cleaning the lint
filter, the intake, not so much.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 4/24/2014 9:28 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


If I'm not mistaken, one of the first suggestions (and many thereafter) was
to make sure the _inside_ of the unit was clear of lint. I'm very surprised
that you went 25 years without cleaning the internal ductwork, fan, etc.
and never had a problem before now.

I'd estimate that I clean my dryer about every two years. I take the back
off and vacuum everything, including the blower wheel, the ductwork where
the lint filter goes, the vent pipe, the vent in the wall, everyplace.

Sometimes I find other things that could use a little TLC, like the foam
seal around the blower housing, etc. Even an inexpensive dryer can be kept
going for years with just a little preventative maintenance.

25 years of lint built up on the blower wheel? That must have been pretty
bad.

I'd bet that 99.5% of the people that own dryers never clean them inside.
My present one is probably due for a cleaning and I'm not sure what to
even take apart yet. I'm a stickler for cleaning the lint filter, the intake, not so much.

My lint filter slides in from the top of the unit. To open the top of the
dryer, I pull the lint filter out and remove the 2 screws that hold the
lint filter duct to the top of the dryer. Once those screws are removed the
top can be opened for full access to upper portion of the inside of the
dryer.

I also remove the back, which gives me access to the rest of the inside,
including the screws that hold the lint filter duct over the blower
housing. Once those screws are removed, the entire inside of the dryer can
be cleaned.

Do you use dryer sheets? If so, you should wash your lint filter with warm
soapy water every few months. Dryer sheets cause a waxy substance to build
up on the lint filter which inhibits air flow. Try to run some water
through your lint filter. If it holds water, it's clogged and should be
washed.

On 24 Apr 2014, DerbyDad03 wrote in
alt.home.repair:

If I'm not mistaken, one of the first suggestions (and many
thereafter) was to make sure the _inside_ of the unit was clear of
lint. I'm very surprised that you went 25 years without cleaning
the internal ductwork, fan, etc. and never had a problem before
now.

I've opened and cleaned it up twice before that I can recall. Once was
when I replaced the broken drum belt, and I vacuumed it all out at that
time. I opened it up and vacuumed it out one other time, but that was
quite some years ago. Neither time, though, did I pay attention to that
fan, so anything on it has probably been accumulating since the
beginning.

I'd estimate that I clean my dryer about every two years. I take
the back off and vacuum everything, including the blower wheel,
the ductwork where the lint filter goes, the vent pipe, the vent
in the wall, everyplace.

I've been doing the vent pipes every year or two. Now that I have that
rotating brush kit, I'll do it more often. I've just been avoiding
opening up the machine. It's mainly laziness and procrastination - I
know it's not that hard to do.

Sometimes I find other things that could use a little TLC, like
the foam seal around the blower housing, etc. Even an inexpensive
dryer can be kept going for years with just a little preventative
maintenance.

The seals on this one are a sort of felt-like material rather than
foam. They're a little ratty looking, but still intact, I think. I
should if those parts are still available and how much they cost.

25 years of lint built up on the blower wheel? That must have been
pretty bad.

It was like hard paper mache. It was long past the point of just
blowing off with normal use, it had to be physically scraped off, a
tedious job, but obviously one that I should do periodically.

Nil wrote:
On 24 Apr 2014, DerbyDad03 wrote in
alt.home.repair:


Sometimes I find other things that could use a little TLC, like
the foam seal around the blower housing, etc. Even an inexpensive
dryer can be kept going for years with just a little preventative
maintenance.

The seals on this one are a sort of felt-like material rather than
foam. They're a little ratty looking, but still intact, I think. I
should if those parts are still available and how much they cost.


You don't have to use an OEM seal. Mine was felt also but I had some dense
foam lying around so I cut my own strips and glued them in place.

I've checked it a few times to make sure nothing was melting or showing
signs of getting too hot and it all looks good.

On 4/25/2014 2:28 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

Do you use dryer sheets? If so, you should wash your lint filter with warm
soapy water every few months. Dryer sheets cause a waxy substance to build
up on the lint filter which inhibits air flow. Try to run some water
through your lint filter. If it holds water, it's clogged and should be
washed.


No dryer sheets allowed for the reason you mention. Fabric softener can
build up in the dispenser too. Our new high efficiency washer has a
clean cycle and you put a cleaner tablet in with it.

On 4/24/2014 9:26 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 4/24/2014 8:48 PM, Nil wrote:

What I found was the fan that draws the moist air out of the drum
and sends it on its way to the vent. It was absolutely caked with hard
compacted lint, to the point that there was little or no gap between
the fins. I spent about a half-hour with a toothbrush, scraper, and
vacuum cleaner and got it all out of there. And waddayaknow? It works
waaaaay better now.


So, thank you all for your suggestions. I've got them archived for the
next time the machine threatens to go tits up.


Half hour work to save $500 is a good deal. Thanks for the update and
happy ending.

I concur with my esteemed colleague.
Way to go, man! And thanks for sharing
with the rest of us.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..