Most households couldn’t properly function without the dryer. The laundry room would be nearly empty without this beloved appliance, and everyone would be waiting on their clothes to air dry. What most homeowners don’t think about before it’s too late is the fact that the dryer does need maintenance from time to time. We’re talking about more than just cleaning the lint screen after every load of laundry. The dryer vent needs to be cleaned occasionally as well. Here are 3 reasons to hire a chimney sweep to clean the dryer vent.

  1. Lint is a Notorious Fire Hazard. The lint that gets caught in the lint screen is just the big pieces. The tiny pieces that go through the screen eventually become trapped in the vent hose. The dryer has to work harder to push the heated air through the vent as lint begins to line the sidewalls, so it creates more heat. More heat is where the problems begin. Lint is extremely flammable; even a small spark of static electricity can cause a fire.
  2. Money is Better Spent on Other Things. The dryer is notorious for being pretty power hungry. The more it has to work, the more money you’re spending on energy bills. The average properly working dryer should require roughly 45 minutes to dry a full load of laundry. The more time it takes, the more you’re paying out.
  3. Carbon Monoxide is Known as the Silent Killer. A blocked dryer vent creates a serious issue with carbon monoxide, especially if your dryer is powered by natural gas. Carbon monoxide is generally pushed out of the home through the dryer vent, but if the vent is blocked, it escapes into your home.

We always recommend the installation of a carbon monoxide detector in the laundry room for this very purpose. You need to know immediately if you have this silent killer lurking inside your home. We are CSIA Certified Dryer Exhaust Technicians (C-DET) here at Lou Curley’s Chimney Service.

Our chimney and dryer vent services extend well beyond Drexel Hill and into most townships, towns, and cities along the Main Line. Call us at 610-626-2439 to schedule a consultation, chimney inspection, chimney cleaning, or dryer vent cleaning.