While many people know the importance of cleaning out your dryer lint trap between every laundry cycle, not everyone knows how vital it is to have your dryer vent professionally cleaned. The National Fire Protection Agency released that thousands of fires originate across the U.S. each year in clothing dryers. At Planet Duct, we believe in the importance of maintaining your dryer to promote safety, lower electricity bills, and increase the life of your machine.
In this blog, we’ll explain the dryer vent cleaning process used by professional dryer vent cleaners like Planet Duct, and we’ll also cover DIY options. For best results and to avoid damaging your dryer vent duct, we always recommend hiring a professional.
How To Clean Dryer Vent Ducts
Your dryer vent duct starts at the back of your clothes dryer and typically exits your home through the nearest exterior wall. It carries the moisture from drying your clothes out of your living area, improving air quality and preventing mold. Some dryers vent inside your home, such as into an attic space, but this can cause safety issues. If you have an indoor dryer vent, we recommend getting it replaced as soon as possible.
To clean your dryer ducts effectively, you’ll want to ensure that your dryer vent professional cleans your dryer vent from both ends, removing any obstructions in between. Here are the dryer vent cleaning steps Planet Duct follows at every job:
- First, starting at the exterior vent, we use a special dryer vent cleaning tool to snake the line outside of your house down to your dryer.
- The tool pulls all of the lint from your dryer outside of your house by suctioning it backward.
- Next, we fish the line through multiple times until it comes out completely clean.
- After cleaning your dryer from the outside of the home, we will shift focus to the back of your dryer.
- We will also pull the dryer away from the wall, then use an air tool to thoroughly clean your lint trap and blow out all debris from the back of your dryer. If doing this yourself, you can use a vacuum cleaner.
- Using an extension tool, we will clean your dryer vent from the back of your dryer to the termination point on the outside of your house.
- Then we will reconnect your dryer, push it back in place, and clean everything using Simple Green.
- Finally, we will test your dryer to ensure everything is running efficiently and safely.
DIY Dryer Vent Cleaning
Although there are DIY kits, and you can follow the above steps to clean out your dryer vents it is always better to hire a professional. DIY kits do not include specialized dryer vent cleaning tools required to snake the entire duct. At best, you are removing blockages from the first few feet of your dryer vent.
If you opt to use a DIY dryer vent cleaning kit in between professional cleanings, make sure to choose the correct kit for your duct material. The brushes on DIY kits have different levels of abrasiveness and can damage your duct if used incorrectly. You may then have to pay for expensive repairs or install a replacement duct, which will cost you more than just hiring a professional.
At Planet Duct, we have a team of NADCA-certified air duct and dryer vent cleaners. Hiring a qualified cleaner will not only get the job done right, but it will also protect you from damages.
Importance of Dryer Vent Cleaning
We mentioned briefly that dryer vent cleaning can protect you from a dryer fire, but it can also save you money. Dryer vent cleaning benefits include:
- Increased dryer efficiency
- Lower electricity bills
- Decreased wear and tear on your machine
- Improved indoor air quality
If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of professional dryer vent cleaning, read our blog on why you should have your dryer vent cleaned.
Signs your Dryer Vent Needs to be Cleaned
Here are a few signs your dryer vent needs to be cleaned professionally:
- You notice increased drying times.
- Your laundry room or dryer are getting very hot.
- You notice a burning smell.
- You can see unusual debris on the dryer vent or lint filter.
For more information on knowing when to schedule a dryer vent cleaning appointment, learn about how often dryer vents should be cleaned on our blog.
Schedule Professional Dryer Vent Cleaning with Planet Duct
In conclusion, the dryer vent cleaning process administered by our team is incredibly thorough. If you notice that your dryer is not drying as quickly as it used to, give us a call today. We’ll ensure that your dryer is cleaner than the exhaust port on the Death Star. We are happy to provide free quotes for dryer vent cleaning as well as air duct cleaning to help you breathe better and live better.
