Public Service Announcement: Dryer Vent Cleaning

Does your dryer take extra long to dry? Like more than 30 minutes to dry a regular load? Mine used to. In fact, sometimes it would take nearly 2 hours my dryer to get the job done.

Finally, I decided to do something about it. I called a local dryer vent cleaning service and this picture shows just a small part of what they found at the top of my dryer vent. Apparently, the builder of our 2-story town home added these metal shields to prevent debris from falling into the vent. Well, guess what? It also prevented proper venting.


Before I was a mom and before I was a teacher, I was a claims adjuster. I knew before I was even a home owner that clogged dryer vents are one of the leading causes of home fires. You'd think I'd know better. Apparently I didn't.

Please, please, please call and have your dryer vents cleaned. You can just google it with your city name and it will probably find several choices for you. Mine cost $89, though they offered discounts if neighbors had it done at the same time. I've heard it suggested that you can recover this cost in your electric bill because you won't be running your dryer as long. If that happens for us, great. But at least I know that I've taken an important step in protecting my family and my home.

Comments

  1. AnonymousWed Feb 15, 01:59:00 PM EST

    My Dad and husband climbed up on top of the roof and cleaned out our dryer vent with a pipe snack this summer. There was TONS of stuff in there! Our dryer worked wonderfully after that. Good blog post to help everyone! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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