Dryer vent replacement?

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

After a bit of reading I've seen that having a non foil/plastic dryer vent hose, with no hard corners/turns, and as short as possible seems to be the best. This should keep the path clear, efficient, and less likely to be a fire hazard. After checking my current dryer vent it looks like it's got a couple pluses and minuses. The laundry room is located at an exterior wall, and the vent goes straight through. So I have about the shortest, most direct route possible. But the connection from the wall to the dryer is slightly offset and currently has a foil vent hose. The problem I see is that I don't really have enough room to move the washer or dryer from side to side to get the vent to line up directly. It seems like the best replacement for the foil hose might be the more rigid, but still flexible, dryer vent kit I see at Lowes (Builder's Best Dryer Vent) but I'm not sure I have enough room to install it either, unless I swap the position of the washer and dryer. Compared to my current vent hose, this dryer vent looks like it would have a less sharp curve, but the overall length would be increased. Getting rid of the foil hose seems like a plus as well. Any thoughts? Am I just overthinking dryer vents?

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Comments (4)

MizLizzie
11 years ago
If that vent is going through immediately the wall and is level, wow, it doesn't get much better than that. So long as you clean it out regularly -- and everyone should -- that minimal run of accordion should be pretty much a non-issue. I wish I had that set up.
telero
Original Author
11 years ago
Yeah, I still need to pull the dryer away from the wall and check the actual foil vent hose. I did check the bit of pipe that goes through the wall by opening the louvers from the outside and shining a flashlight and it was as completely clear, just couldn't see into the hose itself from the outside.
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dadoes
11 years ago
That offset IS restricting the airflow to some degree but not as badly as some situations I've seen, and probably not enough to have a severe impact on performance.

My situation after moving to a different house has the same sort of offset. In my case it is enough to have an definite detrimental effect ... the dryer was triggering an airflow fault and tripping an internal overheat protector on the heating element housing. It's at corner of the room and can't be moved further to the left.

I solved the problem by setting the dryer at an angle to the wall which lessened the severity of the offset.
telero
Original Author
11 years ago
Well, I haven't had any specific issues yet, so everything will probably be fine. I could maybe move the dryer out from the wall another couple inches and straighten out the curves a little bit. Not sure that I could angle the dryer (for aesthetic reasons, my wife probably wouldn't like it). As long as there is no heavy buildup of lint in the vent hose itself I'll probably just leave the cheap foil one in place.