Dryer venting question

[ryner1988]

Hi all,

I have a Whirlpool dryer, model number WED5300VW0, that wasn't drying very quickly. I spoke about it in other recent threads and determined it was a lint issue.

I was able to get into the dryer itself to look at the duct below the lint trap area, and that was a little clogged up but actually not too bad. After getting that cleaned out, I disconnected the vent hose in the back and vacuumed all of that out as well as the piping that I could easily reach. I was told by the housing authority that maintenance takes care of the outside part of the vent line.

After doing all this, the dryer is doing a better job in performance. However, the venting used was apparently the flexible foil type (eep), and I want to replace it with semi flexible aluminum venting because I had no idea the foil type was being used. I know rigid ducting is best, but I can install the semi-rigid hose myself.

My question is in regards to whether this type of vent hose will still condense down enough to fit into a laundry closet. I can't have the dryer sticking out much more than the washer because I need to be able to close the closet doors. It's not a particularly small closet, I'd say pretty average, about 4 inches of space or so behind the machines. Will this be enough without crushing/kinking the vent hose?

I'm looking to trade out the foil vent for something like this.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lambro-Rigiflex-4-in-x-96-in-Semi-rigid-Flexible-Duct/1002503486

Or maybe this shorter one (72 inch) is better?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lambro-Rigiflex-4-in-x-96-in-Semi-rigid-Flexible-Duct/1002503422

What's worrying to me is that the reviews are surprisingly bad on both, people seem to have pretty strong opinions on something as innocuous as a dryer vent. Maybe they just don't know what they are doing?

Anyway, a bit of help would be appreciated.

Ryne

 

[combo52]

Best performing dryer vent materials

Best of course is the lightweight aluminum smooth tubing, after that is the metallic size foil or plastic venting which you have now.

The flexible aluminum venting while safer gets a lot more condensation in it and clogs faster.

Use a rigid aluminum elbow at the exhaust of the dryer so you don’t have to crush the vent where it connects to the dryer. The flexible aluminum is a lot harder to work with and frequently comes disconnected or gets crushed behind machines and causes performance problems be very careful using that material.

I would get the building to clean out the exhaust system if it’s taking more than an hour to dry clothing it’s a fire risk call the fire department maybe they’ll get them to do it.

John L

 

[steved]

Aluminum is the only way to go

"Best of course is the lightweight aluminum smooth tubing, after that is the metallic size foil or plastic venting which you have now".

New York State requires metal dryer ductwork with a smoooth interior finish. No plastic is allowed.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #1

John, when I talked to maintenance about this issue, they said they take care of cleaning out the outside part of the line, where it exits via the roof, and we, the tenants, are expected to maintain the dryer and the actual vent hose that's hooked to it. The reason they gave was that it's a liability issue for them to mess with unhooking/rehooking up washers and dryers as they only provide the connections, not the units themselves.

I did a load earlier today, and it dried in about 50 minutes, excluding the cool-down part of the cycle. It was a fairly large load of everyday clothes, so seems pretty reasonable to me. I do believe cleaning the dryer itself as well as the duct here in the house made a difference. I also left the dryer pulled out slightly from the wall so that the foil hose is not so curled up. I'm not a fan of how close the dryer is to the closet door in this position, but I can at least close both closet doors so that's what matters.

I wonder about using a magnetic vent instead of the flexible foil, since the exhaust on the dryer and the hole in the wall are an exact straight line.

 

[lowefficiency]

I believe that section above is in reference to the in-wall / in-ceiling portions of the run, not the short flexible connection between the machine and the duct?

("M1502.4.3 Transition Duct" seems to be the code part being discussed here?)

 

[luxflairguy]

Do you close the doors to the laundry when either machine is operating? I'd suggest that your leave the door in front of the dryer open when it's running. The dryer needs AIR to operate efficiently. Lynn and I had the same set-up and had lots of trouble with the length the dryer ran. We found out that the dryer ran better with the door open! Greg

 

[mattl]

Light weight smooth aluminum can easily be cut with scissors, really easy to install, better than anything that is corrugated or ribbed. personally I only use galvanized for venting, not much chance of it getting crushed...