Most people do their part to keep their house, and all their appliances, in working order. Most people schedule a regular professional furnace cleaning, but few think to do so for their clothes dryer.
When it comes to dryer maintenance, the first thing most people think of is the lint trap. Most people know that it is necessary to clean the lint trap between loads; some even go a little further and clean out the area where the lint screen goes too. This is all very good, but it is not enough. Lint is a very messy substance that can spread throughout the dryer and vent system, creating blockages that restrict air flow and cause fire hazards.
A dryer vent cleaning professional has special tools for getting to the difficult areas. An annual cleaning and inspection will ensure that there is proper air flow for the dryer to work efficiently and safely.
Inside the Dryer: A lot of the lint that gets past the lint trap can get caught up in a number of places throughout the dryer. You may be amazed to see how much lint has slipped past the trap and is now trapped in various portions of your dryer frame. This is not only messy but its a fire hazard as any spark inside the machine could set the lint aflame.
The Chute: The chute that takes the hot air and lint out of your dryer and to the outside of your house is another area of the dryer that lint will get stuck in. Some of the lint that made it past the trap and into the ducts out of the dryer and towards the outside wont complete the trip. Instead, it will get stuck on the textured walls inside the chute. Too much of this piling up can be a fire hazard with any sparks as well as a costly problem since the more there is clogging up the chutes, the harder the dryer has to work to blow air through the system.
The Dryer Vent: The final place that needs to be cleaned is the vent outside your house. This is the final destination of all that hot air. The vent needs to be checked for two reasons to make sure its not clogged with lint and to make sure it’s intact, as any holes or tears could invite bugs and rodents into your house.
To keep your clothes dryer working, efficiently and safely, have a professional inspection and cleaning at least once a year. If you have a large family and use your dryer almost daily, you may want to double that service schedule. Proper dryer vent cleaning will save money on utility bills while preventing a clothes dryer fire.