Dryer Ducts — Often Ignored Until It's Too Late

3/1/2018 (Permalink)

Some of the lint that accumulated in one dryer duct.

What can happen if you forget about regular duct cleaning?

In the hustle and bustle of daily life it’s easy to forget about small, regular things that need maintenance or cleaning. After month of talking to home and business owners, I’ve realized that far too many people ignore their ducts entirely until the ducts become so clogged they think their dryer is broken. Those who think their dryer is broken are the fortunate ones—the unfortunate ones often experience something far worse, a structure fire from which it can take months to rebuild and recover.

Even though it may seem arduous to some, most homes only need to have their ducts cleaned annually or semi-annually—depending on amount of dryer usage—usually in the spring and/or fall.

As you can see in the photo, taken at an apartment complex in which the previous owners ignored this vital cleaning for years, this building was at sever risk for a fire. Furthermore, this issue caused them to not only go through dryers often but also waste energy as tenants were running dryer cycle times of over 4 hours a load! I only wish we could’ve gotten a picture of it all to demonstrate how serious the issue was as our crews pulled and vacuumed out over 3-5 cubic feet of compacted lint from each dryer duct! Thankfully, the new management was more diligent.