What is the first thing you do after you load up the dryer with damp clothes? Clean out the lint trap. Without a clean trap, your dryer will have a much harder time venting, and this will end up trapping moisture inside and leading to clothes that stay damp even after an hour at the highest heat level.
There’s another cleaning your dryer may need, although it isn’t one you do for every load of wash: cleaning out the vent that exhausts the heat from the system to the outside. Unless this vent receives regular cleaning, it will not only make the dryer less efficient, it can also lead to a serious fire hazard when the heat inside ignites the highly flammable lint. Thousands of home fires each year (15,000 in 2010, according to the National Fire Protection Association) result from clogged dryer vents igniting.
For thorough professional dryer vent cleaning in Rockledge, FL, contact Next Generation Air & Heat Inc. We specialize in duct cleaning, and bring the same knowledge and skill to cleaning out your dryer vent so your family will stay safe and your dryer efficient.
How to detect that you need dryer vent cleaning
- Clothes are not getting dry enough: If you clean the lint filter with every load, yet your clothes still come out damp, then you are losing efficiency somewhere in the system—and it’s likely in the dryer vent. If you need to run the dryer longer and longer to effectively finish a load, it’s time to check out the vent to see if it needs cleaning.
- Clothes or the dryer feel exceptionally hot: When a load of laundry is done in the dryer, the clothes should feel warm to the touch… not hot enough that you can’t actually touch it. If this is the case—and the outside of the dryer also feels extremely hot—then heat is not exhausting from the system, and you will need to have the vent looked at.
- Burning smells when the dryer runs: When lint starts to catch fire in the exhaust tube, you will detect an acrid odor. Stop using the dryer immediately and call for professional vent cleaning.
- More than a year has passed since the last cleaning: You should make dryer vent cleaning an annual routine, since a year is sufficient time for a build-up of lint to begin to clog up the vent. Get ahead of the problems of damp clothes warning you that you need cleaning and schedule the work now.
The clothing dryer is one of the great modern home conveniences; don’t let it turn into an inefficient energy drain or a serious danger!
Call for dryer vent cleaning in Rockledge, FL from Next Generation Air & Heat Inc. We can also take care of your ductwork cleaning during the same visit.
