Grande Prairie Dryer Vent Cleaning
Depending on where your dryer is located in your home, you may not know where it vents to the outside. If it’s away from an external wall, the vent may have long ways to run with twists and turns. So why does this matter?
In the drying process, there is a lint catcher catches about 70% of lint and fibers. That leaves about 30% that finds it’s way elsewhere. Typically that is that it tries to expel through the hot venting that goes outside. If this vent is long or twisting, there is a very good chance that it is clogging up the vent. This can be a serious issue as it can end up on the dryer heating element or causing an overheating situation due to the clogging. In fact, it is a leading cause of house fires.
It is recommended that the dryer vent be cleaned once a year and that this should be done by a qualified technician. it’s
Cleaning dryer vents are done somewhat similar to furnace ducts. We get access to the vent from the back of the unit. We then vacuum as much as we can, pulling out the big bits first. If the vent is long, we then utilize our agitating tools to scrape out the debris from the vent walls. Once completed, we vacuum up the remaining lint debris. When we are complete, we attach the vent to the back and set it all back into place.
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If you do your own regular dryer vent maintenance, you may think you don’t need this service. If the venting is short and it’s run to the outside is very short, you might well be able to adequately clean this on your own. However, in our experience, very few homeowners go through this effort. When we do your furnace ducts, we are going to make sure we ask if need the vent cleaned, because it still a high fire risk and should be done right by our professionals.
Here are a few warning signs that your dryer vent cleaning might be required:
- Clothes take longer to dry than they used to.
- At the end of the drying cycle that you typically use, the clothes are hotter than usual.
- The machine is getting hotter than normal.
- If you have flappers on your outside vent and they don’t seem to open much when the dryer is working.
- You can sense a burnt smell coming from the unit.
If you experiencing any of these symptoms, best to call us and we can assess if the vent is indeed clogged and in need of a cleaning. We will get it done right! And of course, you probably won’t just call us for a dryer vent cleaning, you should consider your residential duct and furnace cleaning as part of your entire healthy home initiative.
Vent Cleaning for Gas Dryers is Critical
If you own a gas unit it is even more important that you have your vent cleared at least once a year. The gas machine not only vents the hot air, but it also vents the expended gas in a similar manner to a water heater. This means that a clogged dryer vent could be a cause for carbon monoxide being expelled in your home. It is critical that you are arranging gas vent clearing at least once a year, but if you have a family and a heavy user of your machine, you should consider clearing your vent every six months.