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Comments
Leonard
18 Feb 2008, 15:41
Thanks, Tim! I often wonder if the people who use lady's hose in their
garage realize the problems they may be encouraging. The cost of proper
ventilation can be much less than the potential damage you correctly
mentioned. BTW, people have slipped on moistened garage floors (already
smooth) near vented dryers... Best wishes!
Kevin
24 Feb 2008, 17:29
I have a slightly different twist. I was hoping to have both the drier and
furnace exhaust discharge into a compost pile. Any thought on how, if at
all, this could work?
Kevin
AsktheBuilder
01 Mar 2008, 15:28
Kevin,
Your idea is crazy. Do it at the peril of you and your family.
Chris
24 Mar 2008, 10:55
If you exhaust the dryer to your roof, won't you get lint build-up on the
asphalt shingles? I would imaging there are quite a few people that would
not checking the vent openings and cleaning the lint buildup on the roof.
AsktheBuilder
24 Mar 2008, 11:23
Chris,
Great question! Does it rain where you live? Let Mother Nature take care of
any cleanup. Also, tell me what is worse: lint on shingles or wood
rot??????
Vlad
27 Mar 2008, 18:18
Can most dryer-vent roof caps be readily be de-linted from the outside? I
am considering having Icynene insulation sprayed in the attic, and I assume
this will make it impossible to access and clean the vent mesh from inside
the attic. Is a lint-trap installed between the vent and the dryer a good
way to minimize or even eliminate the need for such maintenance? Thanks!
El
27 Mar 2008, 19:17
My home is almost 6 years old. I live in OH.
The builder of this home has a good reputation but........... apparently
(I've been told) he didn't know to put insulation around the vent from the
dryer going up in the attic.
At least 3 people that have homes built by this builder had problems with
water leaking into different vents (bathroom exhaust fans, exhaust for
dryer, and the like) during the winter problems early in 2008.
I can't simply vent my dryer into the garage now that I see the problems
that can come from that. It costs too much to move the washer/dryer. I
may look into getting one of those washer/dryer combos that do not need
ventilation for the dryer.
What responses can I read about this?
AsktheBuilder
29 Mar 2008, 05:43
Vlad,
You will almost always need access from the roof side of the vent to clean
the damper. You can't count on a clean lint filter to eliminate this
maintenance.
AsktheBuilder
29 Mar 2008, 12:33
El,
I have a feeling the leak issue is not hard to fix. Why not get an expert
roofer out to see if it is a flashing issue?
Danny
30 Mar 2008, 14:37
My dryer is vented up through the attic and out the roof. I have been
having problems with my dryer forming some sort of black build up that
leaves my white clothes looking dirty. My wife has cleaned out the dryer
multiple times and I went as far as changing the complete ductwork to try
and solve this. I have a solid vent pipe from the laundry room and into the
attic then in the attic I am using a silver flexible duct to the actual
vent leading to the exterior. What can I do to stop this? Would it be
better to run the vent down through the crawl and out the side of the house
to prevent condensation from traveling back thru the duct and back into the
dryer? (This, I suspect, is causing the problem but I'm not sure) Please
help!
AsktheBuilder
31 Mar 2008, 16:27
Danny,
Take apart the vent pipe to inspect it. I have no idea how things in that
pipe could go backwards against the air flow. Are you sure there is not
something that fouled the dryer like a black ballpoint pen?????
Jack
01 Apr 2008, 09:17
My rental property has the dryer vent to the cavity between 2 studs in a
wall. The laudry room is located in the center of the house. How can I
vent the dryer. Going to the interior wall can't be correct. Do I have to
run a 4" metal duct from the dryer up to the attic and out the roof? This
could be about 15 feet long. Is this alright?
AsktheBuilder
04 Apr 2008, 05:02
Jack,
Yes. Please read all of my Dryer-Venting columns. There are several, and
contain the answers you need. Then watch my video on the Exhaust Fan
Flashing.
Ravi
06 Apr 2008, 13:04
Hello,
I have a Maytag Natural Gas dryer, for some reason all of a sudden it
started turning my white clothes gray/black. The vent leads outside and
has been cleaned. But the white clothes still turn black. What could be
the possible problem solution? please help... thanks
Wendy
06 Apr 2008, 18:54
We've been having a ton of trouble with our dryer since we moved in 2 years
ago because the vent was run underground and out through a pvc pipe. Every
week my husband has to suck out gallons of standing water with a shop vac
as it would take several hours to dry 1 load of clothes. So today a friend
of ours suggested venting right into the garage, which they then did...
However, I was skeptical and decided to do some research. Boy am I glad
that I found this information! I will be making my husband fix this right
away before we have more problems. Thanks for the advice!
AsktheBuilder
09 Apr 2008, 19:54
Ravi,
My first guess would be ink from a pen or marker. Something made it into
the dryer that should have never been in the washer.
Scott Strang
10 Apr 2008, 07:06
We bought a new house roughly 2 years ago and, unlike many other houses in
the neighborhood, out dryer exhausts outside. What's really odd is that
since the house's walls are concrete internally they decided to have the
dryer vent run through the foundation and come out near the ground outside.
At first it got a lot of water in it following a hearty rain. I added an
extension and elbow so that the pipe would point down. Now it has water
again as a result of vapor build-up deposits. As you probably deduced it's
pvc.
I guess I will have to suck the water out on a regular basis with my shop
vac. It's a pain but still better than it exhausting in to the attic.
At some point I might try to have a new pipe run up into the attic and
vented under the eave of the house.
Rebecca
11 Apr 2008, 09:21
We have just purchased a new dryer. Currently the dryer vent is only 3"
wide through an outside wall right next to the dryer. So the entire length
of vent pipe is approx. 2'. We have been told that we should increase the
vent hole to the standard 4" but it is a brick wall and would be difficult.
I am wondering if since the vented air is only traveling 2' to the outside
will the 3" hole be okay with an adapter? Would it potentially cause damage
to the dryer or void the warranty?
AsktheBuilder
13 Apr 2008, 19:31
Rebecca,
That reduction just at the wall should be okay. You need to run 4-inch pipe
to the wall.
David
16 Jun 2008, 02:39
I live in a townhouse. Each house in the row is a mirror floor plan of the
neighboring house. The basement access doors of the house are in a shared
niche that it 10 ft deep from the back of the houses. The nook is around a
total of 5 feet wide combined width inclding the neighbor houses access
way.
The problem is the neighbor has installed the dryer vent at the base of
their slanted basement door. The vent blasts moist scented exhaust which
goes against our walls and windows. If we happen to have any of our four
windows open which open into this alcove, our house fills with this
exhaust. We cough, choke and eyes sting, not to mention the moist hot air.
Is this vent location out of code? All the other houses vent on the very
back of the houses.
lynn
17 Jun 2008, 11:30
The builder in our community vented the clothes dryer to the roof, we have
vaulted ceilings. The dryer vent is clogged it goes up 15ft. and turns. I
see this as an ongoing problem. what can be done. no way to revent no
outside wall.Your expertise is appreciated. Thank you, lynn
chad hadley
20 Jun 2008, 20:44
Tim, my wife and I are renovating a house and will have 2 dryers, one
upstairs for future use when we get older, and one in the basement we will
use now. Can we vent both into 1 common outlet? thanks in advance and I
love your site.
Michael
27 Jun 2008, 09:49
My gas dryer is connected to a 4" metal vent pipe that runs through a 2x6"
piece of lacking in the wall. I a concerned that the vent pipe may get too
hot to be in constant contact with the wood and drywall in the wall (it's
too hot to hold my hand when the dryer is running on Medium heat). Should
I enlarge the hole so there's a gap around the vent pipe as it passes
through the wall? Should the gap be filled with fiberglass of some kind,
or are there flanges to support the pipe and keep it from contacting the
wall?
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