Keep dryer door closed VS often cleaning lint trap

[roger]

I've heard that some people empty the lint trap every 15-20 minutes believing that doing so will dry clothes faster through better air circulation.

I've also heard that others believe that it is more important to keep the door clothes to keep heat in(emptying the trap only once before the load), thus drying the clothes faster.

Both have some rings of plausibility.

Anyone have any proof for one or the other?

I don't believe it would make that much of a difference either way, but am curious nonetheless.

 

[arbilab]

I empty the filter on fuzzy things like towels. If the thing gets really clogged it won't dry much at all, so a fistful of lint is slowing it down.

Think about how a dryer works. Not like an oven. It constantly puts heat in which leaves in the form of vaporized water out the exhaust. So no, opening the door doesn't 'let the heat out'.

 

[georgect]

Clothes dryer manufactures NEVER suggest cleaning the lint trap every 15-20 minutes.

They say to clean the lint trap after each load. Once is sufficient for a load.

The lint screens are designed to handle at least one loads worth of lint.

Maybe and that's a big maybe, I would check the lint filter if I was drying something with a ton of lint like a bunch of terry cloth bathrobes or brand new very fluffy towels (but I would probably forget and just empty it when it was done).

 

[mark_wpduet]

Interesting -

I never thought of stopping and cleaning the lint screen mid-load to speed up drying. I have never done that. I always have just cleaned it after each load.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Only when I do the dog beds,

Other than that I let the load run.

 

[DADoES]

 
I've cleaned mid-cycle in a few instances in the past for large, lint-producing loads such as towels.  The dryer I've had for 8-1/2 years continuously auto-scrapes the filter during a run.

 

[kb0nes]

New flannel sheets and towels

I find both loads can lint enough to occlude the screen to slow the drying. My Cabrio dryer has a top mount lint filter so its simple to pull it for cleaning (or just inspection) while the cycle runs. Personally I'd never buy a dryer that doesn't have a top access lint screen.

As for heat loss when opening the door that is a non-issue. I'd think more about cycling the igniter an extra time.

 

[kenmore70]

A self cleaning lint filter for a dryer would be a nice invention!!!

 

[DirectDriveDave]

Laundromats really take the cake. When I go there now and then to wash large comforters, so many seem to be oblivious to them, I have removed screens that are covered with a HUGE layer of lint.

 

[launderess]

Our Local Laundromat

Cleans the dryer lint screens daily as part of end of the day clean-up. It is really annoying because the attendents start about an hour or so before the place actually closes. So there are usually customers around folding laundry, putting it in and taking it out of dryers when down comes wafts of lint and dust from the screens being cleaned. Oh and the worse is yet to come as La Senora begins to sweep the floors away from the door TOWARDS the back of the place. Since the dryers and folding areas are located there anyone's clean laundry (not to mention themselves) is covered in dust from the floor sweepings.

Have asked why not just invest in a good shop/commercial type vacuum but apparently that mouse trap is firmly closed.

Suppose this is an inprovement from earlier incarnations of this laundromat. Back then it seemed like every other week the fire department was there putting out dryer fires.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Gosh that reminds me!

In 1995/96 (about a year) I worked at a Texaco in Knoxville TN which had a grill AND a laundromat! There were two of us working together and I worked 3 to 11 and at the end we rotated on who would clean the laundromat and who would clean the grill area. I HATED cleaning the laundromat. I remember taking all of those grills off the dryer and using a broom to clean the lint...........NASTY and HAIRY too. I could always tell if a hairy guy did his laundry because it was all over the lint screen.

 

[whirlcool]

A self cleaning lint filter for a dryer would be a nice invention!!!

Our Whirlpool dryer lets us know if the lint screen is full. If it has no more mesh area clean left uncovered it will stop the dryer and then beep three times. If you don't come in 5 minutes it will do the "finish guard" cycle (5 min tumble, no heat)
and then beep again.

When you clean the filter and then press start with the filter in the machine it will resume where it left off before the filter was cleaned.

We do as the manufacturer says, clean it after every use but that's only really needed after two loads of towels, etc. Drying jeans and t-shirts will let you do about 5 loads before the warning goes off.

 

[yogitunes]

if all dryers had the so called self clean filters, that would be killer....

as DADoeS mentioned, he has the F&P Top load dryer, as if that wasn't a great machine in the first place of Top loading, but also to have the filter sweep clean with every revolution, it's like a fresh filter thru the whole cycle....

kinda funny in translation...a washer's self clean filter does it all by itself, flushing all the lint down the drain with no user contact....yet there is still the manual, pull out the screen and clean it yourself, filter of a dryer....not exactly self cleaning is it?...well, at least its not soggy!.....lol

 

[golittlesport]

never clean the lint filter mid load, BUT...

...when drying a large comforter, I'll usually take it out, shake it and place it back in the dryer once or twice during the cycle. This seems to hasten the drying as all the steam dissipates.