According to the Sierra Club, cleaning lint from your dryer, vent and vent pipes can save improve your dryer's energy efficiency up to 30 percent!
Reading that statistic was enough inspiration for me to haul out the vacuum and get cleaning. First, I unplugged my dryer, which is electric. If you have a gas dryer then you should also turn off the gas. next I disconnected the dryer hose on the back and began vacuuming. I vacuumed the opening where the hose was attached as well as the lint filter and housing. Then I vacuumed the pipe in my wall as far as I could reach.
Luckily, my outside dryer vent is easy to access. So I took my shop vac outside and vacuumed as far as I could reach. After I put everything back together I plugged in my dryer and started a load. The load was dry in half the time as before I cleaned up all the lint.
Apparently, all the lint build up in dryers is also a major safety hazard. Not only can the stuff catch fire very easily, but it can prevent moisture from venting out and allow mold to grow. Gross!
Since clothes dryers work by using a fan to circulate warm air, my dryer should last longer since removing the lint as the fan won't have to work as hard. That's good news for me and the environment.
RSS Feed