Venting an electric dryer into unused chimney
I would like to know the issues with venting an ELECTRIC dryer into an unused chimney shaft.
The building’s water heaters / boilers vent through an aluminum shaft inside the chimney. The bathroom fan is vented directly into the chimney shaft.
I have a 2nd floor apartment ( 1 additional floor above) in a jersey city brownstone. I currently have a malber condenser dryer but it does not work all that well, plus its extremely small.
I want to buy an ELECTRIC washer / dryer combo. In remodeling our bathroom, I found that the bathroom fan is currently vented into the chimney. I wanted to install an electric washer / dryer combo and vent the unit into the old chimney.
Also worth noting, the building’s water heaters / boilers vent through an aluminum shaft inside the chimney. The bathroom fan is vented directly into the chimney shaft.
Are there any issues I should be aware of?
at lot of dryers have the vent attachment at the base, so a few feet of rise is not something to stop the proper function
the dryer manual should be very clear about acceptable venting options.
“You want to vent a drier down, not up.”
Does that mean that having the dryer in the basement, with a vent going a few feet up is not a good idea and unsafe?
You want to vent a drier down, not up. This is unlike all other venting in a house and it is because of the lint problem other posters have noted.
Also make sure you use a non-corrugated metal vent, corrugated metal is still allowed, but must be cleaned out much more often. Plastic drier vents are no longer code anywhere I know of, way too many deadly house fires were caused by lint collecting in the pipes and the resulting fire breaking through the plastic piping. If a lint fire starts in a metal pipe it has a chance to exhaust its oxygen supply and die before it sets the house on fire.
i’m almost positive code forbids venting a dryer into a chimney, regardless if it’s an electric or gas dryer. in fact i believe the maximum length of a dryer vent pipe is 12 feet; a chimney would be significantly longer.
ya, this is a bad idea because the dryer vents lint not just gasses and vapor.Lint not only is super flammable but it will hold water vapor and mold.
Not sure if NYC code allows for you to vent a dryer up through a roof, if so you need to make sure your vent blower and conduit run (you have to enclose the entire run from the dryer until it exits the building) can handle the distance with adequate air flow.
lint accumulating & starting a fire.