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How Often Should I Have My Dryer Hose Vent Cleaned and Why?

Whenever you clean a fabric load, tons of debris in lint form collects in the vent. According to design of a dryer, lint is meant to attach on the trap instead of the vent.

However, sometimes you may find lint collecting in the vent instead of sticking on the trap.

From compromising your health and wellbeing, reducing the quality of the dryer to inflating your monthly energy bills, failure to clean the vent regularly can negatively affect your life.

Since every household must use their dryers once every week, it should be cleaned often. 

On average, a dryer vent hose should be cleaned every 12 months to avoid these problems.

Get your dryer vent cleaned professionally!

On rare occasions, the vent can be cleaned every 3 years, depending on usage frequency and the volume of your fabric load. This article gives reasons you should have the hose vent cleaned more often. 

Fire Safety

When lint collects along the vent, it hinders the free flow of gases along the vent to the surroundings. As that happens, the dryer will be forced to blow very hard.  Since lint is highly flammable, buildup of hot gases may end up creating a dryer fire. Fire in the dryer can be confirmed by the smell of burning material. This may explain the reason you are advised to always keenly look out for this smell. Should you detect any sign of a fire, you should turn the dryer off then call for professional help immediately.  

Health Safety

Due to failure of cleaning your vent more often, lint will accumulate instead of attaching on the trap. More lint accumulation impedes the seamless flow of gases and moisture from the fabric load. The lint buildup and moisture collection provide the perfect grounds for breeding of mold and mosses. Since these two are known notorious cause of most allergies and other respiratory related complications, your health as well as that of your family and pets will be at risk. Carbon dioxide gas produced by the burning lint may also pose a health and safety risk through suffocation. 

Energy Efficiency

Failure to clean the vent more often as instructed, lint may collect and hinder the smooth flow of moisture produced by your fabric load. As that happens, the dryer is usually forced to work extra hard. The ripple effect is the inflation of your energy bills, which negatively affects your financial prudence. A great way to tell if your vent is due for cleaning is the increase of energy bills above normal. 

Longer Lifespan of the Dryer

Failure to clean your hose vent often leads to its clogging. As this happens, smooth flow of air is impeded and a dryer related fire is imminent. While clogging strains the streamlined and seamless running of the equipment, a dryer fire may lead to constant repairs. It may also result to the complete breakdown of the equipment. Regular repairs are expensive and do not reflect very well with your financial prudence. The constant repairs and maintenance caused by clogged vents may sometimes surpass the cleaning costs. In addition to negatively affecting your finances, constant repairs due to clogged vent eventually lead to accelerated degradation. To prolong the service timeline of your equipment, give it regular cleaning. Experts advise that you should wipe the trap whenever you dry a load. This can prevent fabric lint from accumulating. 

Convenience

Another great benefit that comes from cleaning dryer vent more often is convenience. The buildup of lint may capture moisture from the load. What this implies is that if you are to completely dry your load, you will require to run a few cycles. Failure of your fabric load to dry in a single run is one of the many signs that the cleaning of your vent is overdue. With a clean hose vent, smooth flow of moisture is reinstated and your fabric dries faster, in a single run. 

The cost of constant repairs and possible failure of the equipment does not come any close to the cost of regular cleaning of a hose vent. Since you may lack adequate knowledge of dryers, consider leaving the cleaning works to a dryer professional. Apart from effectively cleaning your hose vent, they will also inspect other dryer components for malfunction and take appropriate course of action. As you look for one, be sure to evaluate customer reviews and ratings of a dryer professional. This is the only guarantee that you are working with a highly skilled and experienced individual. 

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