DG 908 Vent Sharing

[pturo]

Is it ok to put a y connection on the solid vent of my(ahem)Roper to vent the Maytag(coming soon from Michigan) through the same outdoor vent? Both are gas. Phil

 

[toggleswitch]

Not recommended.

Both can't run at once, and the exhausted air will go into the other dryer and untimatley back inot the room, as well as out-of-doors.

Laundromat dryers sometimes do share a properly sized vent flue, but each dryer has a damper that acts as a check-valve. (one way flow).

 

[toggleswitch]

PLEASE TAKE THIS VERY SERIOUSLY!!!!

....and for safety a dryer vent should NEVER EVER EVER be combined /patched into the flue/exhaust of ANY OTHER TYPE OF GAS OR OIL BURNING APPLIANCE!!

This includes heaters, furnaces, boilers, hot water heaters and ANYTHING ELSE your little heart can conjure up.

 

[pturo]

Thanks for the advice! I'll get a 4" hole saw and install a seperate one properly, the basement laundry room has exposed floor joists above, I'll just run one parallel, up to the outside sill plate, or whatever you call that thing that the joists are at 90 degree angles to. Might as well do it right.

 

[gansky1]

Once you dive into the waters of multiple laundry appliances, you'll never see dry land again!

If you sell the house someday, you can always install a small ventilating fan and use the "extra" vent for that so it looks "normal." Make sure you get a Nutone - Peter loves those!

 

[pturo]

That's a great idea! The laundry room and workshop are one big room, so to a potential buyer, a NUTONE vent would look responsible and consciencous to vent fumes, dust, humidity, etc. The furnace and gas water heater are in here, however. I just wonder, based on Toggleswitch's warning, if having a ceiling vent in the basement would cause a downdraft effect on the furnace and hot water tank flues into the for the new owners who might sue me? I guess the solution is a CO detector in this room regardless.

 

[panthera]

CO detector, Smoke Detector, Gas Detector

I think all three are a very good idea in such an area. You may very well get into negative pressure situations here, leading to a dangerous concentration of CO in the air.
Every good HVAC firm has people who can come out, take a look and tell you exactly how to do it right.
Over here in Munich, our 11Kw and higher gas fired systems include a built in relay which can be used to automatically cut power to range hoods, etc. when the burner is on.
Something similar might be your quickest and cheapest solution - but, again - have a professional take a look.
And let us know how you solved it.

 

[easyspindry]

The retirement village my mother lived in in the late 1980's had 2 Norge dryers vented through the same outlet. If only one dryer was running (especially in cold weather) the water from the running dryer condensed inside the tub of the non-running dryer and would pool in the bottom of the tub.

Bad idea.

Jerry Gay

 

[pturo]

I think I have solved the problem. My neice needs a gas dryer since she is leaving the appliances in the house she sold(no big loss, 2000 GE's) She has an A608 in storgage and now She gets to inherit the Roper dryer! My mother used to say,"Never throw out dirty water until you have clean, and what with the Mayatg DG906 coming...) The Roper is white dryer with black "dashboard", pretty featureless except a gentle and regular dial heat, wrinkle free zone and cool down on the heated dry portion,which mean nothing, and an air fluff timed zone. I still think that all of the combustion going on in that room I will invest in the trioka of alarms: smoke, CO, and gas that was wisely recommended by Toggleswitch. One of the great things about this group is not just the aesthic and mechanical guidance, but the safety concerns /advise as well. We should all live longer than our appliances. Phil

 

[toggleswitch]

Everyone is entitled to my opinion. LOL

 

[neptunebob]

I remember a dorm that had two Whirlpool dryers running through the same vent and yes, water would pool in the dryer not running. What I don't understand though, is this happened at a university - where are all the smart people to keep a dumb idea like this from happening?

 

[sudsmaster]

Even worse. I once lived in a small complex where there was a tiny laundry room, just big enough for a washer and a dryer. The dryer was electric, and it was vented directly into the room (just blew out the back of the dryer against the wall). Needless to say, clothes took forever to dry in that thing. On top of that, the landlady was lax in emptying the coin bin, so it would regularly jam and not accept any more coins, leaving one with steaming damp laundry and throbbing temple veins. I tried to explain to the mentally defective landlady that she really needed to vent the dryer to the great outdoors, but she wouldn't hear of it.

I finally shoehorned a little WCI gas dryer into my kichen next to the gas range, vented out through an unused stove vent (house was built way back when stoves had to be vented). That worked great, the lined flue was about 8" wide, and had a great draft.

But back to the subject. Toggles is absolutely right; it's a no-no to vent two gas appliances through one vent. People sometimes try to do this with gas water heaters and gas furnaces, and wind up wondering why there's so much soot in the house.

 

[toggleswitch]

~It's a no-no to vent two gas appliances through one vent.

I was referring to a dryer which HAS to be solo (for our purposes) in its venting.

Well, two vents can be combined with a hot water heater and a furnace/boiler when the flues are properly sized. But life is at stake, better to have a pro. handle it, IMHO.