Dryer Vent Cleaning

Clothes dryer vents need to be maintained just like anything else. The Chimney Safety Institute of America, in addition to certifying chimney sweeps, has a certification program for dryer exhaust technicians. To obtain this credential, the technician must pass a test on the dryer cleaning procedures as well as all applicable codes pertaining to dryer vents. There are several reasons to get your dryer vents cleaned and inspected regularly, including:

• Fire Safety – Lint is a flammable substance and can catch fire with enough heat (not necessarily from a direct flame)
• Wear and tear on your dryer – When you have to run the dryer through two cycles to dry your clothes, it will be doing twice the work and only last half as long
• Efficiency of your dryer – The exhaust vent for your dryer is a pretty small diameter pipe and a little bit of lint goes a long way to choking that vent size down even smaller decreasing your dryer’s efficiency.
• Money savings – Why pay to run your dryer twice?

The following is a list of indications that you need to have your dryer vent serviced sooner than later:

• It takes you more than one cycle to dry your clothes
• Your clothes come out too hot
• You have a plastic dryer vent
• You have a plastic connector connecting your dryer to the metal vent
• There’s excessive lint in the area surrounding the dryer
• You have never had it serviced in the past year

An annual inspection or cleaning of your dryer vent is recommended. It is also recommended that the person doing the inspection or cleaning is a C-DET Certified Dryer Exhaust Technician. Many companies offer this service with no formal training. A full list of all of the C-DET Technicians can be found on the Chimney Safety Institute’s .