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January 1, 2009
dryer exhaust question
I am not sure whether I am referring to this correctly, but...I just bought a house where the owner had the silver dryer duct/exhaust/thingie attached to a white box on the floor rather than to a wall so the steam goes outside. There is a switch near the dryer that turns a fan near the basement window on. This seems to pull some of the heat and steam out, but not all. Is this common/ok?
Comments
It's not ideal to vent that way but I often see people venting to a box. It's often a lint trap mess. It's always best to run your duct outside. If you already have a window, that would be the logical place to set up your washer dryer. However, this becomes a larger project because you have to think about the drain for your washer and water feeds if you want your washer dryer be side by side.
Posted by: Rick at January 1, 2009 9:59 AM
Apart from humidity and dust issues effecting health there is also a carbon monoxide issue. Is the dryer gas or electric. If gas then you really want it to vent outside. If not then definitely have a CO monitor in the room. It is not going to kill you because if the dryer works fine then minimal CO is going to build up over the short time it takes to dry clothes, just like when you burn gas on the stove. But still it can cause headaches and other mild irritants to extra sensitive people. I'm not a plumber but IMHO.
Posted by: gennaro at January 1, 2009 7:32 PM
This is messy but very common since many dryers are not on outside walls. My dryer is in the center of the house and I had it vented to the outside but the vent always filled with lint that could not travel the distance and ultimately clogged, overheated the dryer and triggered the its emergency shutoff. From what my plumber told me, it was a tremendous fire hazard because the pilot light on the dryer could have caught the trail of lint. Anyway, it is now vented to the bucket thing and creates a terrible mess in terms of lint dust and moisture. I'm curious as well to read the responses. There must be a better way.
Posted by: superstooper at January 2, 2009 4:48 PM
Yeah, read the box in the hardware store. Electric dryers only.
I have seen dryers vented over thirty feet. It is done with rigid duct and a duct fan. Check the Grainger catalog. There is a seperate cleanout and it is only done with electric dryers.
Does anyone know of a recent dryer fire in Brooklyn?
Posted by: Pstreet at January 4, 2009 2:22 PM
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