Check your Dryer Vent Tubes. Do it NOW.

[Old Ironsights]

I was down in the crawlspace of the new rental here, squirreling away the back-stock of ammo & freeze dried food buckets, and my Firefighter Spidey Sense started tingling.

So I went and disassembled the dryer vent tube.

From roughly 12 feet of dryer vent, I filled a 2 gallon freezer bag to PACKED capacity with dryer lint. This is from a NEW dryer with the vent tube installed within the last 2 years.

This house was one long day of High Heat Laundry drying from burning to the ground. :holysheep

Go check your Dryer vent tubes. I mean it. And if they are embedded in walls/floors, get someone there to brush it out.

Dryer Lint Fires are bad news...

[dg31872]

Thank you for the reminder.

[crawfobj]

Dryer lint is one of the best fire starting materials out there. I carry some in my hunting pack way back in the mountains. Try it sometime. It just takes a little spark to get it started. Great when you want a fire started but downright dangerous otherwise.

The shop vac attachment/brush kits that are drill powered are great for cleaning the vents.

[Old Ironsights]

Dryer lint is one of the best fire starting materials out there. I carry some in my hunting pack way back in the mountains. Try it sometime. It just takes a little spark to get it started. Great when you want a fire started but downright dangerous otherwise.

So... you are saying I should sell the Big Bag in Classifieds? ;)

The shop vac attachment/brush kits that are drill powered are great for cleaning the vents.
Not so handy when the last "contractors" to update the place used Flex rather than solid/smooth for the majority of the run. (Note to anyone running a longish dryer vent duct... DO NOT USE FLEX EXCEPT AT THE ENDS. All Long Runs should be SMOOTH GALVANIZED/ALUMINIUM ROLLED SHEET TUBE. Flex is the WORST collector of lint, and it has to me removed to be cleaned properly. Use Flex for Elbows. For the love of God and Property, don`t drape it off of joist hangers for long runs...

[Spawn-Inc]

also don't use screws to assemble the vent work, use aluminum tape.

but don't use aluminum tape on your furnace or hot water tank vents, use screws.

[crawfobj]

I can do you one better. The geniuses that installed the dryer vent in my house ran it straight up to the roof and dumped it into a hip louver attic vent. This might have worked except that hip louvers have 1/8" hard cloth mesh in them to keep critters out of the attic. I had a nice 3" thick pillow that was really packed in there. Found out about it when the heater element in my dryer went out.

Your bag might not be worth much, but if you ever want to start a fire in just about any conditions...

[300blk]

I can verify this, I keep some for camping trips in my tinderbox.Not an incredibly hot flame but plenty to get smaller kindling going.
Also: flint and steel is all you need to get it going. Steel wool fluffed on the outside (0000) gives you lots a additional heat.

[Gator 45/70]

I've blown mine out with a leaf blower, Problem is that's its open ended in the attic.

[Kskybroom]

Bad Lude + Dryer Lint = Big Fire

I cant run my back-pack blower in the house anymore

Thanks for the reminder....

[captaint]

OI - Glad you found that in time. Also, your dryer is going to work W A Y more efficiently now that it can B R E A T H E..... Mike

[garym1a2]

I hear dryer lint makes a great filler for reduce powder charges in cast boolit loads.

So... you are saying I should sell the Big Bag in Classifieds? ;)

Not so handy when the last "contractors" to update the place used Flex rather than solid/smooth for the majority of the run. (Note to anyone running a longish dryer vent duct... DO NOT USE FLEX EXCEPT AT THE ENDS. All Long Runs should be SMOOTH GALVANIZED/ALUMINIUM ROLLED SHEET TUBE. Flex is the WORST collector of lint, and it has to me removed to be cleaned properly. Use Flex for Elbows. For the love of God and Property, don`t drape it off of joist hangers for long runs...

[dragon813gt]

Keep your old toilet paper roll tubes. Pack w/ dryer lint and seal w/ wax. Great fire starter :)

If your line is completely accessible. It's just as easy to run it all in flex and replace it every few years. Cleaning it is not on my list of fun things to do. Mine is a short run of hard pipe and I replace it every so often.

[NSB]

A simple thank you for taking the time to remind us. Mine needed cleaning!

[Moonie]

I was recently doing church volunteer work for a low income family with dryer problems. Their dryer was in need of some replacement parts and the vent was packed with a lint, burned out the heating element, new one on order.

Definitely reminded me I need to check ours.

[HATCH]

My dryer is less then a year old. It is a smart dryer. It can sense a restriction in the air flow and will not run until its cleaned out.
I had to remove 20 feet of dryer metal line and clean it out.
I treated it like a gun barrel. Dropped a rope to one end and tired a towel to it.
Then pulled it through.
A few times of this and it was all clean.
And no, I didn't oil it up afterwards... LOL

[HATCH]

I didn't even mention that there is a bluetooth app for my phone that connects to the dryer.
It allows the dryer to send diag info to tech support.

[DeanWinchester]

Our dryer is run through 6" pvc pipe. It doesn't hold the lint like the flexible stuff. Every so often, I will clean it out with a Cheetah bead seater. it makes a heckuva mess but it gets it out! Dumping 150psi all at once works great.

[HangFireW8]

If you have a child and start washing new fleece blankets often, cut down the cleaning interval to every 3 months!

[CastingFool]

When we purchased our present home, we found out the previous owner had used 4" pvc pipe for the drier vent, and it had three 90 deg elbows in less than 4' in length. I eventually removed all that and installed all metal vent pipe, using two 90 deg elbows in about 10ft of pipe. The pvc pipe I used to repipe one of our piping vents. the old stuff was cast iron, and there were a few lead joints that are now shiny ingots.

[MT Gianni]

Keep your old toilet paper roll tubes. Pack w/ dryer lint and seal w/ wax. Great fire starter :)

.
Paper egg cartons work great too/

[MaryB]

Not only the vent, take the back off the dryer once a year to clean the lint out. You will be amazed at where it will be packed into.

[Stonecrusher]

My dryer is less then a year old. It is a smart dryer. It can sense a restriction in the air flow and will not run until its cleaned out.
I had to remove 20 feet of dryer metal line and clean it out.
I treated it like a gun barrel. Dropped a rope to one end and tired a towel to it.
Then pulled it through.
A few times of this and it was all clean.
And no, I didn't oil it up afterwards... LOL

We have one of those dryers as well. Never had a problem with the vent pipe but the exhaust hood on the outside of the house will pack with lint and keep the flapper from opening all the way causing a restriction and the dryer to alarm. This is another thing to keep an eye on. Have to clean mine two or three times a year.

[Jtarm]

Dryer lint is one of the best fire starting materials out there. I carry some in my hunting pack way back in the mountains. Try it sometime. It just takes a little spark to get it started. Great when you want a fire started but downright dangerous otherwise.

The shop vac attachment/brush kits that are drill powered are great for cleaning the vents.

When my son was in Boy Scouts, we used to make fires starters by filing each hole in an egg carton with lint then pouring over melted paraffin. After hardening, we had nifty little "eggs" that could be carried and would fire up under almost any conditions.

[CuZ]

Not only the vent, take the back off the dryer once a year to clean the lint out I had to change out a thermostat in mine and was amazed by all the lint under the drum! Found out if you stop using those fabric softener sheets, the lint won't collect so much. Also, I put lint in bird houses; they seem to like it.:smile:

[Bob in Revelstoke]

Found this at a dollar store. Cone shaped hollow plastic tube that will fit any vaccuum cleaner hose. Attached to this is a clear plastic tube about 18 ins. long. Remove the dryer lint screen, insert the tube and turn the vaccuum on and move the tube around. I was amazed at the amount of lint that was sucked up by the tube.

[sparky45]

I did that Bob, and got a lot of crud out of there. However, the dryer still didn't work as well as it did when new. So, I did a youtube search and found a video on how to take apart my brand of dryer and got after it. I had to remove the top; the control panel and the front of the dryer and let me tell you, the junk in there was really packed in and was obstructing the birdcage fan assembly. Not only was it obstructing air flow, it was also causing a big noise and shaking of the machine. Got a sack full of the junk and then replaced all parts. Runs quiet and seems to "breathe" better now.
30 minute job, tops.
Sparky

[bobby65]

You have to keep the lint trap on the dryer clean or it will let lint pass by. And don't clean it wile the dryer is running

[wabashman]

Makes me glad the dryer vent run for mine is about 3 feet total.