Your dryer vent: the quiet fire risk in the laundry room.
Lint is kindling, and the dryer makes more of it with every load. Most of it lands in the trap. What gets past goes down a duct that, in most houses, has never once been cleared. About a third of dryer fires start with a vent nobody cleaned, and the cost shows up before the danger does: a dryer fighting a packed vent runs longer to get anything dry.
How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
Once a year covers most houses. A second-floor laundry or a long run with several bends collects more lint and wants a clean every six months. A dryer that works fine is no reason to skip it. Fine is how every clogged vent starts, because the lint builds a little with each load.
What happens when a dryer vent clogs?
Some lint always gets past the trap. Over months it coats the duct walls and narrows the path until the air can barely move. The dryer runs hotter and longer to do the same load, and packed lint catches fire easily, which is where the risk comes from.
How to tell if a dryer vent is clogged.
Watch the dry times: a load that suddenly needs a second cycle means the air isn't getting out. Feel the top of the dryer mid-cycle; hot to the touch means heat is trapped inside. Then go outside while it runs. A flap that barely lifts, or no warm breeze at the hood, means lint is blocking the line.
How to clean a dryer vent yourself.
Unplug the dryer, pull it from the wall and disconnect the flexible duct behind it. An inexpensive rotary brush kit chucks into a drill. Feed it into the wall duct, spinning the whole time, with a shop vac catching what comes loose, all the way to the hood on the outside wall. A short, straight run is a fair job to do yourself.
When to hand it off.
A very long run wants proper line equipment, and so does one that exits high on the roofline; don't force a brush through either. Or just an afternoon you'd rather not spend behind the dryer. Dryer vent cleaning is $— added to a plan or $— one-time, the whole run from the dryer to the outside wall.
Or never think about the dryer vent again. Loaded clears it every winter as part of the plan. On Basic it can be added at $— a visit, spread across the monthly bill. Plans
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