VentMasters Blog

Using Dryer Vent Cleaning as an Inspection Tool

2/1/2018

It is a well-known fact that preventative maintenance is the best way to care for your home, car, lawn mower, and any other things we want to last a long time. The ability to make small repairs proactively is far better than big expensive repairs reactively. The question is how do you know if you need a repair? How do you know if expensive deterioration and damage is beginning to develop? What is the best way to learn about issues and what areas of concern are most pressing?

The short answer is an inspection of the system. This is the best and most cost-effective way to stay on top of the status of your vent. If you are not made aware of the issue during an inspection, you will usually become aware when the system fails or malfunctions. Whether you have a pre-buying inspection on a home or notice the leak under your sink, becoming aware of issues is your first line of defense.

Your dryer vent system is critical to the health of your dryer, and the level of ease you experience while doing your daily chores and activities. That being said, this system is very easily overlooked. Having scheduled inspections will help with staying on top of it. The best way to inspect the dryer vent system is to have it cleaned by a specialist that evaluates the system from both the interior and exterior of the home. Interior access is critical to the cleaning and inspection of the dryer vent. We can determine many things from cleaning a dryer vent. Our technicians can provide you with a recommended cleaning frequency, dryer vent performance levels, and identify breaks in the line. Approximately 10% of the jobs we complete require additional repair and the majority of systems will perform better following a cleaning.

The Cost of a Broken Dryer Vent

1/18/2018

For most of us, our homes are our biggest investment and damage and/or required repair to our home will have a big impact on its value. When a dryer vent system is broken, warm moist air produced from the dryer is exhausting somewhere inside the building. Most commonly it is vented into a wall or floor cavity, attic or crawlspace. The warm moist air will then condensate in these areas which can be a source for mold or dry rot damage.

Mold remediation and dry rot to a structure is significant and very costly. When you have your dryer vents cleaned we strongly recommend arranging interior access so that the technician can verify the vent is intact and airflow is terminating at the correct location. If it is determined a repair is needed invest the couple hundred and save yourself a lot of money down the road.

Based on quick analysis of our 4th quarter 2017 data, the average cost to repair a broken dryer vent was $234. This is relatively inexpensive considering the cost of damage to your home if mold, dry rot or other damage is caused.

Four Benefits of A Properly Functioning Dryer Vent System

1/11/2018

A good dryer vent system is one that properly carries the dryer air from the dryer to the building exterior. A good dryer vent has most notably four direct benefits.

Time – Faster dry times means less time spent doing laundry.
Money – Shorter dry times means less money spent powering your dryer.
Safety – Poor dryer vent systems cause approximately 16,000 house fires every year.
Equity – Preserving your home is the best investment you can make. A thorough cleaning and verification of proper airflow ensures that warm moist air is not causing damage to your home.

Why Interior Access is Needed When Cleaning a Dryer Vent

1/4/2018

Interior access is needed to ensure the dryer vent system is functioning properly. The difference between cleaning with interior access versus cleaning with only exterior access only is significant. The goal is to ensure that the dryer vent is working properly. A properly functioning dryer vent system has good airflow from the dryer to the vent termination or building exterior.

While an exterior cleaning seems simple and easy it has a few deficiencies and having access to the interior of the unit is the only way to ensure a job well done.

You often need interior access to identify which vent is the dryer vent. While this seem like a simple objective, we often see cases where a vent was cleaned but it was not connected to the dryer vent.
You need interior access to know if there is booster fan within the vent system. If there is a booster fan it requires interior access to clean between the dryer and the booster fan.
You need interior access to test and verify that the booster fan is activating and functioning properly.
You need interior access to verify that the dryer is connected to the dryer vent. We frequently find flex the hose disconnected at the rear of the dryer.
You need interior access to ensure that airflow is reaching the vent termination or building exterior. This is perhaps the biggest issue. Approximately 10% of the work orders we complete also require repair. Meaning warm moist air is going into attics, crawlspaces, within walls, floor cavities and other places it shouldn’t be.
You need interior access to investigate the cause of weak or no airflow to the exterior. We can determine where pipes are separated out of sight with about 99% accuracy.