Dryer Vent Cleaning in Aiken, SC
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It takes about a minute.
Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold nights turn lint into a wall inside the vent
Your dryer pushes out warm, damp air, and on a night near 36 degrees that air cools fast once it hits the metal duct running through an unheated wall or attic. Lint that would blow through a warm vent sticks to the cold, damp walls instead. Over a winter it builds into a layer, then a plug.
A blocked vent has nowhere to send that hot exhaust but back into the dryer and the room around it. That is heat and moisture the vent was built to carry outside, sitting in your house instead.
- 36°F
- the average winter night, and cold vents catch damp lint
- 5 months
- November through March, the vent stays cold
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
- Once a year, at least. If your dryer takes longer than it used to for a load to dry, or the outside vent hood barely moves air when it's running, don't wait for the year mark. Those are signs the vent needs cleaning now.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can clean the part you can reach, but not the whole run. Pulling the dryer out to vacuum the first few feet of duct, and clearing the vent hood outside, is worth doing on your own. The lint further down the duct, especially around bends, needs a brush and rod long enough to reach it, and a contractor carries those.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes that need more than one cycle to dry, a dryer that runs hot, or a burning smell when it's running. Lint collecting around the door, or weak airflow at the vent hood outside, are also signs. Any one of these means the dryer is working harder than it should, and it's worth having the vent checked.