Indoor dryer vent

[Taylortractornut]

Anyone here use or make an indoor dryer vent. My washer and dryer are in a closet in the master bathroom and the vent runs down and out from under the house about 18 feet. When it's attach馘 I noticed clothes the longer to dry and my elements run about 4 years. And it's hard to hook up.
It makes sense trying to push heat down and out that far so I've disconnected it my power bill when down an drying time cut way down. I saw a tiny water filled lint catcher at lowes but there's no good way to mount it and the hose is awkward with it. I want to make a box with a lint trap that's easy to access on the side of the closet to make things easier, has anyone done this.

 

[JerryK]

The hose you currently have running under the house might be blocked, full of lint. If I were you, I would replace this hose and make sure your dryers internal lint screen is fully seated into it's slot in the dryer. It is real easy for them to work out of position, then eventually be held out of place by lint buildup in it's slot. I would go that route, the outside vent route. Dryers put out a lot of moisture and heat, not something you usually want in your house. Once you get the current vent working properly, your heating element should last longer.

 

[JimRB]

Does your dryer vent use hard 4" metal pipe, not stretchy plastic or aluminum foil pipe? Hard metal will flow a bit more air than the corregated pipe and is easier to keep clean. The pipe and vents are supposed to be cleaned regularly. At my house which only has 2 people, my vent was pretty clogged. They do make a dryer vent cleaning brush. If you can get the brush in from the outside you start up the dryer on fluff mode which is just air and brush away starting from as far away as possible.

The dryer should be serviced once in a while. I have found all kinds of lint and things in the dryers I have taken apart. Allen wrenches, screws, nails, coins and lint. I usually take it outside to clean and use the air compressor to blow out. My dryer is due for a cleanup now. The question is how long it will take for me to clean it and the vent pipe.

 

[widefat]

Anyone here use or make an indoor dryer vent. My washer and dryer are in a closet in the master bathroom and the vent runs down and out from under the house about 18 feet. When it's attach馘 I noticed clothes the longer to dry and my elements run about 4 years. And it's hard to hook up.
It makes sense trying to push heat down and out that far so I've disconnected it my power bill when down an drying time cut way down. I saw a tiny water filled lint catcher at lowes but there's no good way to mount it and the hose is awkward with it. I want to make a box with a lint trap that's easy to access on the side of the closet to make things easier, has anyone done this.

Keep in mind - the dryer also expels a significant amount of moisture. All of the water in the clothes has to go somewhere, hence the dryer vent. Expelling the air inside the house
means you are dumping a lot of moisture, which can lead to mold growth and long term damage to the house. The lint catcher you saw at lowes is good for lint, but does nothing to handle the moisture.

 

[Gunny]

Keep in mind - the dryer also expels a significant amount of moisture. All of the water in the clothes has to go somewhere, hence the dryer vent. Expelling the air inside the house
means you are dumping a lot of moisture, which can lead to mold growth and long term damage to the house. The lint catcher you saw at lowes is good for lint, but does nothing to handle the moisture.

Exactly right - I thought I'd try one of those lint catchers a few years ago to capture the heat instead of shoving it outside. Only used it one time, every surface in the laundry room was covered with mist, clothing that had been hung on the rod were damp.
That much moisture would also be detrimental if it was just pumped into the foundation, so it all needs to be vented outside, even if you have to install a dryer duct fan booster to handle the additional length of the ductwork.

 

[Zerk]

I have never heard of an installation like this. You must really be pressed for space. But is there any chance of moving it? Besides the venting, this just sounds like screwed up in general. I am guessing you did this.

Can you reroute the vent? Your bedroom is 18' feet from a exterior wall?

Sounds like a fire hazard, with the built up lint.

 

[Zerk]

Easy to tell other people what to do from my recliner, but scrap everything and do this right.

Obviously if you ever sell the house you will have to do something.

 

[Dftodd]

Neighbor and I both had issues with our dryer vents. His comes out his slab, and had a 90 up then 90 out with a louvered cover. He had to drill a small hole in the bottom 90 since water was building up in the pipe.

When i bought my house, the dryer vent had a screen on the end, and came out at ground level. Screen would get wet, then clog. Replaced the screen with a louvered cover. And had to dig a small tech to get the water to drain away from it. After that, no issues.

 

[topbuilder]

The new vent restrictions have a 15' max from dryer to exit. Every 90 degree turn = 5'. Anything beyond that requires an auto blower that comes on when ever the dryer runs.

 

[Paul Thornton]

Indoor venting as well as those "stretchy plastic" pipes are not legal in my area. I had a box that allowed me to switch between indoor or outdoor venting which I had to remove when the dryer was serviced.

 

[jfh28]

you absolutely do not want that amount of moisture being discharged inside your house.......unless you like mold........my advice is do whatever is necessary to safely hard pipe it so that it discharges outside the house........you can check with your local code official to see what the maximum lengths are and also check with the dryer manufacturers installation manual which is probably online........Jack

 

[bigtiller]

The only time I ever vented the dryer into the house was during the winter when we were dealing with a static electricity and getting shocked after just a few steps. It was a drafty old house. I put one of the wife's old nylon stockings (pantyhose) on the dryer vent about 5' down stream from the dryer. We had to clean the lint out of the stalking about every fifth load.

I wouldn't do it in a modern house, they aren't drafty enough.

 

[Zerk]

Everyone I know has there dryer on a outside wall.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I tried one years ago, thinking it would be a good idea in winter. I guess I could have built a better filter, but it was just too messy and too much moisture in a short time in one spot.

My Dad still hangs his laundry in his unfinished basement.

 

[Taylortractornut]

It's on an inside will in the master bath. With a laundry closet around the washer and dryer not my design

 

[Scooby074]

At one time I bought one of those indoor dryer vents because i figured I was "wasting" all that hot air out of the dryer... Turns out all I was doing was growing mold in the laundry room!! Got rid of it as soon as I noticed.

As mentioned there are kits to clean out the dryer vent. I use a Sooteater SootEater | Soot Removal Tool | Spinning Chimney Whip | Chimney
Cleaning Tool on my woodstove chimeny and it works well. They also make a "Linteater" just for dryers. If its as good as the sooteater Im sure it will work fine. Also looks like they now make a monitor to watch for lint buildup which is kind of interesting LintGard Safety Monitor | Dryer Lint Gaurd System

If you want to get away from dryer vents entirely, look into whats called Condensing dryers. They work without a dryer vent and without creating a moisture problem in the laundry. Popular in Europe. I know Miele and some of the other big euro manufacturers make them. https://www.miele.ca/en/Product/Details/5#details

 

[MossRoad]

So just to be clear, we're talking electric dryer here, right?

In our old house, we had an electric dryer in the basement. We'd vent it outside in summer, but in winter, we just disconnected the hose through the wall and turned it 90 degrees back into the basement next to the dryer. Then we'd hang a pair of pantyhose onto the tube, then a second pair over that. It was kind of funny, because when the dryer would come on, the legs would puff out and there's half a woman hanging from the ceiling! :laughing: Anyhow, even with a doubled up panty hose, it ended up putting a gosh awful amount of dust into the basement. But the moisture was great to have in the very dry winter.

With you being down south that far, I doubt you get that dry of air in your house. Do you really want to add moisture into the house? It would be best to run the vent UP, through the ceiling into the attic and then through the roof with a proper dryer vent, over to the nearest exterior wall and out through the soffit. However, if the soffit is perforated near the vent, the steam can rise back up into the soffit and attic area, causing moisture problems (in the south, read that as MOLD), so be careful.

 

[Taylortractornut]

MR the house is dry in the winter I heat with wood and still have to put a kettle on the heater for humidity

 

[MossRoad]

Good, then you'll benefit from the added moisture in the winter.... but you may smell like Snuggles the fabric softener bear....

 

[roadhunter]

I vent the dryer in the house part of the year. It's very dry here so the heat and moisture are useful 8-9 months of the year. I built a box and use a furnace filter to catch the lint. Swap it out once a month.