Although cleaning your dryer duct and vent is important, you first need to know when your dryer needs cleaning. Luckily, there are multiple signs to look for when determining whether your dryer duct and vent need cleaning or not.
Here are three signs that your dryer duct and vent need cleaning:
- Clothes need more drying time
- Excessive lint inside the lint trap after each cycle
- Dryer is overheating
If you notice any of these signs while running the dryer, then your dryer duct and vent most likely need cleaning. Read on to learn more about the five signs that your dryer duct and vent need cleaning.
Clothes Need More Drying Time
As lint builds up inside the dryer, one of the first things you may notice is that your clothes take longer to dry.
When ignored for too long, your dryer duct and vent accumulate excess lint that restricts the airflow inside the dryer. Consequently, the lint traps the heat that would otherwise be directed toward your clothes.
Without proper cleaning, your dryer will fail to dry your clothes properly, which means running the same clothes through many drying cycles. Aside from costing you time and energy, running multiple drying cycles to dry your clothes is frustrating and costly for your wallet.
Instead of dealing with semi-dry clothes, you can clean your dryer duct and vent by hiring professionals to safely clean out the lint dampening your dryer’s efficiency.
Excessive Lint in the Lint Trap After Each Cycle
Another sign that your dryer duct and vent need cleaning is excessive lint in the lint trap. Unlike the previous two signs, you need to see a pattern of excess lint in the lint trap after each cycle before drawing the conclusion that your dryer duct and vent need cleaning.
As lint begins to accumulate in the duct and vent, more lint displaces onto the lint trap. An easy temporary solution to this is to simply keep removing the excess lint from the lint trap. However, this fails to address the root of the problem: a clogged dryer duct and vent.
The only way to see improvement is by cleaning the dryer duct and vent. After cleaning your dryer duct and vent, you should see less lint in the lint trap after each cycle.
Dryer is Overheating
The last sign that your dryer duct and vent need cleaning is an overheating dryer. If your dryer is much hotter to the touch than normal, then your dryer duct and vent are probably clogged with lint.
Cleaning your dryer duct and vent should return the dryer to the normal and expected temperature range.