Quite a few of our customers at American Chimney & Masonry are surprised to learn that their clothes dryer vent should be professionally cleaned once a year. An easily forgotten maintenance task, neglecting to thoroughly clean your dryer vent annually may lead to a dangerous house fire. As stated by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), 15,000 fires, 15 deaths, and 400 injuries caused by dirty clothes dryer vents were reported to the US Fire Administration each year between 2014 and 2017. To ensure your dryer is not a fire hazard, scheduling an annual professional cleaning of the vent with one of our certified technicians is important for the safety of your house and family. Your clothes dryer will also work much more effectively, which will save you money on electric or gas bills. We would like to share with you some of the reasons behind the importance of this yearly maintenance step.
A Dirty Clothes Dryer Vent Can Decrease the Efficiency of Your Dryer.
If your dryer vent is blocked with lint or debris, your dryer will not work properly or efficiently. You may notice clothes still being wet or damp after going through a full drying cycle. This is one of the main signs of a dirty vent and should be a clear signal that your venting system needs cleaning. When you must use your dryer at its highest temperature to dry clothes, it decreases the life of the appliance and can also lead to your heating element burning out or a fire igniting. A dirty clothes dryer venting system will also cost you more money as it takes more electricity or gas to dry a load of clothes.
Dirty Dryer Vents Can Also Lead to the Possibility of Carbon Monoxide Leaks.
Especially if your dryer is gas-powered, you must be sure that it is vented correctly and that its exhaust vent is free from any type of blockage. If there are venting problems or blockages, carbon monoxide can be forced back into the home. If you do not have an alarm for carbon monoxide, you could may never realize you are breathing in carbon monoxide until it is too late as this toxic gas is odorless and tasteless.
The Locations of Dryers in Newer Homes Necessitate Annual Dryer Vent Cleaning and Inspecting.
The complex construction of newer homes is placing dryers in rooms in the house with no outside wall. This means a longer dryer vent piping must be installed and usually contains a few bends. This type of venting is harder to access, and its additional length provides more space for lint accumulation as well as a spot for animals and birds to hide. An annual dryer vent cleaning is especially important in these incidents to protect your home from a possible fire.
Although You Clean Your Dryer Vent Filter from Lint After Each Load, You Still Need an Annual Professional Vent Cleaning.
Regardless of the fact that routine removal of lint from the dryer vent can reduce the risk of fire by 90%, it’s still important to schedule a professional cleaning of the dryer vent every year. Large clogs of lint can be found in the venting ducts as well as in the inner side of the wall. To ensure proper cleaning of your dryer’s venting system, you need to call a dryer exhaust technician from American Chimney & Masonry to do this task for you. Our technicians are Certified Dryer Exhaust Technicians by the CSIA to deliver the highest level of service available!
If you would like to schedule an appointment for your annual dryer vent cleaning, contact American Chimney & Masonry today. We can send our dryer exhaust vent technicians to your home to be sure your clothes dryer is not a fire hazard.
