dryer vent size

[cehalstead]

Does anyone know when clothes dryers were changed from 3" vents to 4" vents?

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Dryer Vent Size:

Hi! cehalstead, if your Dryer is a standard size Dryer, it should be the 4-inch Diameter opening. If your Dryer is a Compact/Portable Dryer and an older Unit, it would possibly have a 3-inch Diameter opening, but the newer Models {almost all} have a 4-inch Diameter opening. I hope that this helps you. "BTW" you can use a Tape Measure and take the Diameter {across} Measurement to see which size your Dryer Vent is.

Peace and Happy Drying, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[cehalstead]

dryer vent size

Thanks for the response, but I was looking for a year when standard size dryers went from a 3" vent to a 4" vent. My house was built in '52, and the vent that went to the roof from the kitchen laundry was a 3" vent. I know that the dryer my mom bought in '68 (Kenmore 900) had a 4" vent opening and the smaller size in the roof and wall required an adapter and also caused the clothes to take a long, long time to dry because of restricted air flow. I moved the laundry to the basement in '92, when the house became mine and of course used 4" venting for my Maytag dryer. My partner's house was built in 1970 and also has a 3" vent opening to the outside. Just wondered when the standard for the vent opening in standard dryers changed from 3" to 4".

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Sorry, missunderstood when reading:

I'm not sure about what you actually asked, but I'm not honestly aware of any Standard Size Dryer's ever having a 3-inch Vent opening, "verses" a 4-inch opening. I just know that as mentioned the Compact/Portable Dryer's had a 3-inch Vent opening, but even with those, I'm not sure when they changed to the 4-inch openings, but I would guess somewhere around the Early-1950's. My 1950 Kenmore Dryer that I just acquired i believe has a 4-inch Vent Opening on the back upper right side, I will have to check it out to make sure. I'm sure no doubt that one of the other Club Guy's might know for sure. Are you able to convert your Vent thru the Wall?

Peace, Good Luck and Happy Drying, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[DADoES]

The house my parents built in 1964 had a 4" dryer vent. No changes were needed when the 1964 Whirlpool was replaced with a 1976 Whirlpool.

 

[kenmore1978]

vent size

A friend of mine had a 1951 Bendix dryer and it had a 3 inch vent His vent opening was a 4 inch, so I had to get an adapter to make it fit

 

[Unimatic1140]

Chuck there was no exact year that the manufacturers went from a 3" to 4" vent, it happened at different times through the early to mid 1950's. By the 1956 or 1957 4" was the standard.

 

[maytagbear]

well-----

My first apartment with laundry hookups was built in the late 60s, and that was a 4 inch vent. A few years later, I moved to another apartment in the same complex, and there was a 3 inch vent, and the guys from the appliance store I had hired to move and connect my machines (I am not that helpless now!) refused to connect the dryer to that vent. So, for a little over a year, I vented the dryer into the apartment.

Had a nylon stocking over the end of the pipe.

Of course, I didn't use the dryer too much that summer!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[cehalstead]

dryer vent

Thanks, guys! My question has been answered........<G>, but I knew that it would be here...

 

[MrX]

Any dryer I've ever used in Europe has had a 100mm vent (4inches = 102mm so for all practical purposes it's the same as 4")

3 inch duct's pretty narrow!!

Below, a pic of a rental (vacation) apartment laundry setup in France.

Water heater, washer and tumble dryer stacked (note the 100mm vent) and iron