If You Have To Replace Your Dryer Vent, This Is The Best Time Of Year To Do It

Although many common tasks come up on spring cleaning lists, the practice of checking and replacing dryer vents is often overlooked. The dryer vent is the hose that runs from the back of your dryer to a hole in your home's exterior in order to carry moisture away from your dryer.

A lot of lint builds up in the dryer vent throughout the year, and your dryer operates less efficiently when the buildup is extensive. You may need to run more than one cycle to clean your clothes. Blocked dryer vents are a common cause of household fires, so they need to be kept clean. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), firefighters responded to almost 16,000 fires related to clothes dryers between 2010 and 2014. In more than 25% of dryer-related fires, lint, dust, or fiber ignited first. Spring is a great time to clean this vent and ensure no debris is causing a hidden fire hazard. 

There are many signs that it's time for a new dryer vent or a serious cleaning. If energy bills are going up or you're having a harder time getting clothes dry, you may have a blocked or cracked dryer vent. You may also notice a lot of lint buildup around your dryer's exhaust port. The vent should be cleaned annually at least but may need more frequent cleaning if you have a larger household. Be sure to replace your dryer vent if you notice it's broken, tattered, or excessively clogged. It just so happens that spring — the season often associated with house cleaning — makes an ideal time to check your dryer vent.

Winter, summer, and fall are all fine for this task, but it's easier to make annual dryer vent maintenance a habit when you associate it with all your other spring-cleaning chores. To get started, disconnect the dryer vent. Then, pull the dryer away from the wall and disconnect the other side of the hose. You can then look inside the tube and clear out any lint and debris using a vacuum cleaner. Also, be sure to clean the lint filter and the areas where the dryer vent connects — that means you should clean the back of your dryer and clean the outside dryer vent as well.

If your dryer vent is broken or heavily clogged, you'll need to replace it instead of simply cleaning it. If it's time to replace a dryer vent, the easiest solution is to call an HVAC professional to take care of the task for you. However, you can also make the replacement yourself if you have the skills needed to do so. Fortunately, it's a fairly simple process. After disconnecting the existing tube, you'll need to connect a replacement dryer vent to the back of the dryer unit and run the other end through the exterior hole in your home.