brobriffin said:
You will just be dumping moisture and heat into the basement but if the clothes dry normally that will tell you about a blockage in the vent system somewhere
I went ahead and disconnected the exhaust vent from the back of the dryer and dried a few loads of laundry. They dried perfectly without issue and within the time frame expected.
I know for certain that the vent system is not clogged. I took it completely apart and ran a brush through the entire vent system to make sure it was cleaned. I resealed the joints where connections are made with the proper tape material.
I will try to describe the vent system. From the outside of the house, the vent comes into the house and connect to a 90 degree elbow. Then there is about a 13 foot straight vent. That connects to another 90 degree elbow and goes on for another 6 feet before connecting to another 90 degree elbow. A straight drop of about 6 feet to the floor, connected to another 90 degree elbow and finally the flexible vent connecting to the back of the dryer. I believe, as per the manufacturer manual, it says to use no more than four 90 degree elbows. I also note that my previous 15 year old dryer, never had this problem.
The only other idea I can think of is to replace the flexible vent that connects to the back of the dryer to the vent system, with something else. What, I don’t know.
M1502.6 Duct length.
The maximum length of a clothes dryer exhaust duct shall not exceed 25 feet (7,620 mm) from the dryer location to the wall or roof termination. The maximum length of the duct shall be reduced 2.5 feet (762 mm) for each 45-degree (0.8 rad) bend, and 5 feet (1,524 mm) for each 90-degree (1.6 rad) bend. The maximum length of the exhaust duct does not include the transition duct.
Lery said:
I should have also mentioned that this dryer was fine for about a year. Then it started happening and hasn’t really stopped.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
Someone was telling me that I could buy an insert for the duct that acts like an additional fan. Would this help or is it a novelty item?
Any other suggestions on this one anyone? My only pain point is that the dryer worked fine for about a year. So if the vent system was not proper, and it’s not, my assumption is it wouldn’t work from the start.
A number of factors in play
The vent fan on your dryer may have lint and dust build up on the blades causing them not to move sufficient air. Couple that with the length of vent pipe and I would suggest an exhaust booster. It need to be placed 15 to 20 away from the dryer, up in the attack. Search the web for Fantech 110. This unit will be sufficient as it moves 167 cubic feet of air per minute. And yes its not a gimmick, most new construction here installs them. That was the building code i had quoted previously.
brobriffin said:
A number of factors in play
The vent fan on your dryer may have lint and dust build up on the blades causing them not to move sufficient air. Couple that with the length of vent pipe and I would suggest an exhaust booster. It need to be placed 15 to 20 away from the dryer, up in the attack. Search the web for Fantech 110. This unit will be sufficient as it moves 167 cubic feet of air per minute. And yes its not a gimmick, most new construction here installs them. That was the building code i had quoted previously.
I will check it out. Any advice or information on how to check/clean that vent fan on the dryer?
You mentioned the fan goes up in the attack. The dryer is in the basement.
Oh my bad
We don’t have basements here in floirda.
The vent booster should be placed inline about 15 feet away from the dryer which in our application would be in the attic.
For you that may be just before the elbow between the 6 foot run and the 13 foot run.
I’m happy to report back that the dryer seems to be finally fixed! Finally the check vent light is not on and the good light is on
The front bulk head was clogged. I always clean out the removable lint filter, but there was a substantial build up of lint on the bottom of the front bulk head. Could not see it or get to it until it was removed from the dryer. Here is a picture:
Once I saw that, I was pretty sure that was the cause. However, I continued on to make sure the blower wheel looked good and was not clogged. It did look just fine. Here is a picture of that:
Great I am glad you solved the puzzle.
In my opinion a likely cause for so much build up may be the back pressure on the system due to the long vent run with so many elbows. The belt driven fans as you have are not as powerful as the fans connected directly to the motor.
You will likely run into this problem again in a year.
Keep in mind the lint build up presents not only a drying issue but also presents a fire hazard. Hence the reason for the building codes mentioned earlier.
Installing the vent booster should help prevent the buildup of lint and prevent downtime, overheating of the unit, potential broken parts (i.e. heating element, thermostats, etc) increase drying efficiency thus reducing drying time saving on electric cost and as stated before reduce fire hazard.
Oh BTW I’m a retired fireman. Partly reason for entering this business.
brobriffin said:
Great I am glad you solved the puzzle.
In my opinion a likely cause for so much build up may be the back pressure on the system due to the long vent run with so many elbows. The belt driven fans as you have are not as powerful as the fans connected directly to the motor.
You will likely run into this problem again in a year.
Keep in mind the lint build up presents not only a drying issue but also presents a fire hazard. Hence the reason for the building codes mentioned earlier.
Installing the vent booster should help prevent the buildup of lint and prevent downtime, overheating of the unit, potential broken parts (i.e. heating element, thermostats, etc) increase drying efficiency thus reducing drying time saving on electric cost and as stated before reduce fire hazard.
Oh BTW I’m a retired fireman. Partly reason for entering this business.
The nice thing about this dryer is that I now know the check vent sensor is really working. I ignored it because I assumed the vent was clear and thought the sensor was not working.
Are the vent boosters sold on this site? I looked up the ones you recommended but need to do more research. I guess I just find a seam in the vent were two runs meet, open it up and put it in. The one I looked at had a small hole and claimed the lint can pass through but it concerned me.
The Fantech 110 is the most common one used in my location. We do not carry vent boosters here @ APP that I have been able to find.
I would make sure whichever you purchase that it is UL listed and approved for the job.
The Fantech models have a 4" inlet and outlet and will hook right in line as you stated at one of the connections.
