Every year, thousands of Americans lose their homes to fires caused by something most homeowners don’t even realize could be a problem: their clothes dryers. Well, more specifically, the lint that can build up in their dryer’s exhaust vent.
Lint is highly flammable and can build up in your dryer vent over time. This can happen even if you regularly clean out your lint trap or lint filter on your dryer.
There’s a lot more to your dryer vent than the flexible plastic tube or the shiny aluminum duct going from your dryer to the wall. The vent duct actually continues through the wall to the outside of your house.
The only way to know if you have a lint-clogged dryer vent is to move your dryer and disconnect your vent hose or pipe and inspect it. Learn how to clean out your dryer vent and keep your home safe with this simple guide from Blain’s Farm & Fleet.
Carefully pull your dryer away from the wall. Be careful not to damage the vent hose or pipe when you do this. Once you’ve pulled it away from the wall, carefully disconnect your dryer.
This includes unplugging the power and unhooking the dryer vent from the back of it. If you have a gas dryer, make sure you turn off the supply valve, too.
Look into the vent piping itself and the dryer’s vent outlet. A flashlight is extremely helpful for this. Search for clumps of fluffy gray lint and dust.
The walls of the pipe and outlet should be clean. If they aren’t, you’ll need to clean them.
There are a lot of ways to clean out a dirty dryer vent. You can use anything from a leaf blower to a hand brush.
There are also professional cleaners who offer dryer vent cleaning services. But you definitely don’t need to be a professional to clean the lint out of your dryer vent.
This method will give you the most detailed and thorough cleaning. There are a lot of kinds of vent cleaning brushes you can use, from hand brushes to rotary brushes that connect to a cordless drill.
A hand brush takes the longest, but it will allow you to do the most detailed and thorough dryer vent cleaning. This method won’t work if you have a very long dryer vent. Once you have brushed all the lint out, you can use a vacuum with a hose attachment to clean up the mess.
Most of the rotary brushes have segmented, flexible doweling that you can use to snake the brush through long, winding dryer vents. They aren’t necessary if you only have a short vent from your dryer to the outside of your house. But they are ideal for longer runs.
You can also buy extensions to clean even the longest dryer vents. The best of these kits includes an adapter to allow you to brush and vacuum the dryer vent at the same time with a wet/dry vac.
With the drill-driven brushes, make sure you pass the brush all the way through and bring it all the way back to you. Some homeowners like to do this from both the inside and the outside to do a very thorough dryer vent cleaning.
We recommending doing it outside, as well. If you do, just make sure you remove the exterior vent cover, first.
Some homeowners remove the cover from their outside vent and blow the lint out with a leaf blower. You can do this by sticking the end of your leaf blower into the vent piping where you had your dryer hooked up. Then, turn it on high. Let it blow for a few minutes to get as much of the lint out as possible.
This dryer vent cleaning method is quick, but it doesn’t clean the walls of your dryer vent as well as the brush method does.
Whichever method you choose, be sure to clean your dryer vent regularly.
You should also take precautionary measures to ensure as little lint builds up in your dryer ducts and vent as possible. There are a few simple things you can do that will make a big difference.
First, you will want to make sure you’re always removing any lint from the lint trap and filter before each drying cycle. Leaving that lint in there is a fire hazard.
If you notice residue building up around the lint screen that’s hard to get off, you can use warm, soapy water and a scrub brush to remove it. Afterwards, rinse it off and dry with a towel.
You should also get in the habit of regularly cleaning your laundry room or the area around your dryer. Sweep and dust it often, and vacuum any nooks and crannies around your dryer and its filter. To reach these areas, you can use the hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner.
For more tips and how-tos like these, check out our Home Maintenance Blog.
