Definitely check the duct.

I have a new SQ dryer (gas) and it dries as expected. My towel load is usually 4 large, thick bath towels with a few hand towels. The towels dry completely with one cycle which is under an hour. Hope you can find an easy fix to yours.

I just spent the last hour putting a leaf blower in the duct and blowing as much of the lint buildup out as I could, and then I shortened the length of the duct hose considerably so there are no bends. As soon as I have a full load of towels which as I indicated earlier was 7 or more I will wash them and see how long it takes for them to dry.

Was there a lot of lint build up armjim? When my SQ washer was brand new, I was aghast at the huge amount of lint that ended up on the ground outside the dryer vent. I had a dryer at this same vent for around 20 years prior. Within two weeks, I had more lint debris outside my vent that I had in the previous 20 years! It still boggles the mind to see the quick accumulation outside. I have a straight shot with dryer up against the outside wall, so short run and I thank my lucky stars this is the case. I hope you got it sorted out.

Is it a duct, or is it a hose? It needs to be rigid.

SEA SEA, our house is two years old, but as you know an awful lot of lint can accumulate in the duct. I hate the design of ours with a passion because I don't think it is as safe as it should be. Our house is one story. The LR is at the front of the house so I suppose for design they did not want to put the vent in the front. Since the LR shares a wall with the garage, the vent goes from behind the dryer and up through the attic where it exits over the garage roof. Our HVAC is in the attic (very common in Texas) which is accessed via drop down stairs in the garage. I can see the duct where it starts from the LR area to where it leads to the vent at the roof. To answer Scottie mom, it is indeed a metal duct from the point of where the dryer is vented to where it exits. I used the wrong terminology earlier-flexible foil is what connects the dryer to the actual duct.

Through-the-roof dryer ducting is the among the worst.

Nephew & wife in Pflugerville bought a house last month. I was there last couple days. Washer & dryer are in a hallway-type area coming in from the garage, which backs to a bedroom. Dryer is exhausted through the roof ... other choices being 1) through the bedroom or 2) through the garage with a length of solid-flue to an outdoor wall (which would have been better). Plus there's a (short) length of foil ducting in a tight S-curve due to the tight area and the wall outlet being offset from center of the dryer, which adds considerable restriction. I didn't bother to mention the bad design, highly unlikely they'd be interested in correcting it. :-/

I may go ahead and call a Dryer Vent cleaning service. The duct is is ridiculously long, and the vent itself is an odd looking thing, probably meant to not be noticeable even though it is on the side roof line and not the front. Not much lint blew out when I ran the leaf blower. Unfortunately, I don't think we could easily change the set up. Where the exhaust would exit the front of the house the vent could have been easily hidden by landscaping. Wishing the builder would have done that and got approval from the developer.

Glad it’s a rigid duct, and that you are paying attention to it! Hope you can get it resolved quickly :-)

the vent itself is an odd looking thing, probably meant to not be noticeable...

Do you have a picture of the vent termination? Might not have a cap that is meant for a dryer vent. Or a cap that is too restrictive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KnRp3eXNbk

If your dryer is fairly new, it should still be under warranty. Schedule a service call if cleaning the vent doesn't make a difference in performance.

I am having the same issue with my dryer. A load of towels took almost 3 hours to dry this week. I also have an up vent to my roof (first time for me with this configuration). Laundry room is on the second floor. I disconnected the dryer from the vent and ran a load venting into my laundry (able to close it off) just to see if my drying time was as expected and it was. I also took a pic with my phone of the vent and there is ALOT of visible lint. I have to have a chimney sweep service clean mine. Coming right after Christmas. Thanks for the thread. I never thought about my vent being clogged.

Yes, dryer vents should be cleaned at least once a year. Maybe more often, depending on household size and how much you use the dryer.

A load of 7 thick towels is going to take a long time to dry but three hours sounds excessive. One trick I use to reduce drying time is that I wash the towel load last. I have a top load SQ so I raise the lid on the washer, kinda fluff the towels so they aren't all stuck together and leave them in the washer overnight. Then dry them the next morning. This really reduces the amount of time they need to spend in the dryer.

armjim, I reluctantly passed my old SQ on to the new owners of our house but it dried towels quickly. Seven+ would have been a small load for us. We also had an up-duct through our very tall attic. We installed a FanTech booster to help pull the damp and lint upward. Bought it on Amazon. It worked nicely, and gave another access point for cleaning, too. Your dryer duct technician might install one if by chance you have an electrical outlet in your attic. Otherwise, an electrician will be needed. Good luck.

I am awaiting the return of "The Lint in the Vent Guy" (no kidding-that is what his business card proclaims). He had to go get a taller ladder but he described my issue as soon as he saw it. When the builder installed the vent he did not remove the screen that is supposed to be removed. There is a door on the vent

that opens and closes depending on whether or not the dryer is operating, and the screen has of course allowed all of that lint to accumulate. All these times I looked at the vent but never really saw it. I just took some pictures and was horrified at what I saw. My camera allowed me to zoom in and I was sick. I should have known better.

Yikes armjim!

I'm glad you called in a pro. That could have ended badly.

I'm wondering if,...going forward in the future, since you have the issue with ability to vent outside with a short run, if a condenser (dryers not needing a vent) would be something to think about, considering the "up" venting situation you have.

Anyway, SO glad you called a pro to take a look. Geesh.

Exhaust trouble is the cause 99.999% of the time when a dryer that heats doesn't dry.

SEA SEA the guy is here now. He just showed me all of the lint buildup in the dryer itself since it had nowhere to go. I am the sick at the thought of what could have happened if I would have let this go. I am not sure I would want to deal with a condenser dryer because of my experience with them in Europe. They take so much longer and that was my original complaint-time management of doing laundry.

Understandable armjim.

I'm sure you were sick at the thought of what he's pulling out--and you haven't even been in your home too long. You'll likely have this vent person on a regular schedule to come out and clean out the vent and dryer. I'd lean towards twice a year myself to be on the safe side. I just had to rake (again) the lint pile up outside my vent (and I don't have a SQ dryer-just washer-- I think that's where the issue stems from). omg, the lint. Gobs of it. I think I said upthread I've never had such a lint debris issue in all my years...it's one of those you have see it to believe kind of things.

Best of luck to you keeping on top of this. So glad disaster has been averted. Seriously.

Oh my goodness! So glad Lint in the Vent guy came to look at it!!

What a relief! The load of towels I just dried took right at an hour. Before it would have been 2 hours if not longer. Amazing. The man who cleaned the vent and dryer was very thorough and knowledgeable. He saw my box of dryer sheets and told me why he strongly recommends not using them, i.e. the chemical buildup on components and clothing and skin. Right with advice here. He told me to stick with only FS. I will probably regularly use him and therefore may still use the dryer sheets. I have to admit I like the fragrance and the good static control. I believe in using vinegar for many things, but just not for my laundry. I am very happy at the moment!

Great news armjim! You should good as new now with your new service person.

I get it with dryer sheets. I don't use liquid fabric softener, ever. Never liked it. Not that I like dryer sheets, cause I don't. They really are chemical bombs and they do gum up a dryer and lay a layer of uck on laundry, but we have such dry conditions here (8-10% humidity for much of the year), that without using them, we are walking electric poles. It's one of our necessary evils in life.

I'm glad you had a quick dry time with towels. That's always a good measure for how things are going in dryer world. Happy dance.