Breathing Life into Your Dryer
Many of us have heard about the importance of regularly cleaning the ductwork that vents hot air (and lint) from our clothes dryer to the outside. Failure to perform this routine maintenance is among the most common causes of house fires, and significantly reduces efficiency and performance of one of the most expensive appliances to run in the average home.
Most have not heard, in my experience, about the equal importance of regularly inspecting and cleaning the interior duct work (what I call the lungs) of your clothes dryer. Most dryers work by placing a heat source (electrical or gas powered) in an inlet duct in one area of the drum. Air is then sucked (not blown) through the heat source by a turbine fan in a duct in another location in the drum located behind the lint screen. While lint screens do a great job capturing many of the fabric and dirt particles which release from our clothes, a large quantity of small, sticky particles slip through and find their way to the blades of the turbine fan and walls of the duct. After a couple years of this, your dryer can no longer breathe (think of the worst chest and head cold you’ve ever had) and your clothes will take longer and longer to dry.
The solution to this is simple, and it’s not to buy a new dryer. A couple hours, some brushes and a vacuum cleaner will typically get your dryer working just like new. This service, along with our electric water heater maintenance service are among the most common add-ons clients choose when I am coming in for other small jobs. The pictures below are from a 3 year old dryer serving a family of four.
For Calm. For Joy. For Home. 