Indoor Venting Dryers
I recently moved into a condo that included a stacked washer/dryer combo. The dryer has one of those “lint catchers” that you fill with water and is supposed to catch lint and reduce humidity. For the first month or two I was not aware that I had to fill this with water and used a…
I recently moved into a condo that included a stacked washer/dryer combo. The dryer has one of those “lint catchers” that you fill with water and is supposed to catch lint and reduce humidity. For the first month or two I was not aware that I had to fill this with water and used a make shift screen to keep the lint in the box as I had never seen one of these contraptions before.
My question is, are these “lint catchers” acceptable? The humidity has already made the paint on my walls run and I can only imagine what is going on behind the drywall. Are there dryers that are self ventilating? I fee like all high-end condos with washer/dryer units that do not vent outside are slowly giving themselves a world of mold.
Or you could just get a ventless dryer (also know as a condenser dryer).
It essentially has a cooling coil that operates much in the same way as a dehumidifier. It sucks the moisture out of the air and spits it down the same drain as the washer. You can also get all-in-one units which will wash AND dry the clothes without having to change the clothes between units.
They take a long time to do a wash/dry cycle but I hear they are actually VERY good for the clothes, as they don’t subject the garments to high temperatures like normal driers.
we have a dryer in the basement that is too far from any wall to vent outside so we use a lint trap, which works fine as long as we refill the water and remove the lint from the trap every so often. I agree with anonymous about trying to go through the wall if you can to vent the dryer outside. But I think there is a maximum distance of 15 to 20 feet of duct you can use between the dryer and the vent–am pretty sure I read that somewhere authoritative when I researched this myself. And each bend in the duct counts as 5 feet. If you need to vent longer than 20 ft I think they recommend using a booster fan to vent properly. In the meantime, along with using a lint trap you might want to consider buying a dehumidifier and running it in your closet when you run the dryer. We use a dehumidifier in the basement and the air feels very dry down there in spite of venting inside.
of course it’s better to vent outside. . . can you vent it yourself? If an exterior wall is nearby, all you need is a small hole and access to the exterior so you can attach a vent cover. Of course the condo board would probably make you run through hoops.
Ventless dryers work, but have the limitations you describle. I’d be pissed if I moved into a new condo and found out the developer cutt corners because he “forgot” to vent the dryer.