The "green" movement is growing stronger every day, and there's another easy way to 'go green' in your home - in the laundry room! The best ways to save energy and money and protect the environment, is, of course, to handwash your clothes in an earth-friendly laundry soap and then hang them to dry on your clothes line. And when you're done doing that, you can harvest your wheat, process it and make bread. Seriously.
What's a person to do that does make sense in our crazy, never-stop world? First, wash in cold water when you can and make sure you wash full loads whenever possible.
Also, another big energy-saving tip -- have your dryer vent cleaned! You probably clean the lint screen each time, but did you know that lots of lint gets by that screen and gets caught in your dryer vent? This lint is, most importantly, a fire hazard and should be removed. But it also makes your dryer work harder to move all that moisture from your wet clothes to the outside of your home, which adds more dryer time. One last place to check is the flap on the outside. It can also clog with lint and slow down drying.
The dryer is one of the highest energy consumers in your home, so it makes sense to ensure your dryer vent system is as safe and efficient as possible. Start with an inspection of your dryer vent system by a professional to ensure the material used is code-compliant and be sure to have your dryer vent system cleaned yearly.
If you are good about making sure you remove the dryer lint before every load of laundry, you may be skeptical about the idea of having a professional cleaning of your dryer vents done every year.
It could be that when you pull the filter out there's not too much stuck to it. Besides, as long as you make sure it's clean all the time, the whole rest of the system must be clean too, right? Wrong!
The truth is there is a lot of lint that you don't see both in your dryer and in the line leading from the dryer out of your home. While you can't see it, that doesn't mean it's not a problem. Just like the lint you can see, this hidden lint can pile up and slow down the drying process, costing you more time and money per load, and even worse... be a fire threat.
Want a little more proof? Grab a flashlight and go outside where your dryer vent comes out of the house. If you haven't looked for this before it may take a little while to find it, but eventually you will see a small device coming out of the house that is blowing out hot air while your dryer is at work.
Take the top off the vent and look inside with a flashlight. Do you see a little lint and dust hanging out on the edges? Do you see a lot? Maybe you see some lint piling up on the outside of the vent. All these can be signs of bigger problems.
What you need to keep in mind is that the dryer vent is the end of the line for the hot air coming out of your dryer. By the time the air, and any lint it is carrying, has gotten here, it has been traveling all the way from your dryer to this point. The amount of lint and dust that hot air has dropped off along the way is likely more than you are seeing at the end of the road.
This means it's time for a professional cleaning. A professional they will use special tools, with a longer reach than the things you have in the house, to go through the entire line and pull out any dust, dirt or lint that is stuck in the line. The cleaner these areas are, the safer and more efficient your dryer will be.
This article was written by Janice Bittner, owner of Dryer Vent Wizard in Northern Virginia. Http://www.dryerventwizard.com Janice specializes in dryer vent cleaning, maintenance, repair and alterations to prevent clothes dryer fires. She is also committed to educating all of her customers, explaining to them how their dryer duct and vent system works and how to properly maintain it to reduce the risk of fire. Janice services Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington and Alexandria Counties.
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We clean, repair and install dryer vents while we help to ‘pre-vent’ problems in the laundry room, including environmental hazards like mold and dust, and most important, fires.
Our company cleans, repairs and installs dryer vents. We do more than clean vents; we help to ‘pre-vent' problems in the laundry room, including environmental hazards like mold and dust, and most important, fires. We've owned Dryer Vent Wizard of Northern Virginia since 2006.
My husband, Doug was a commercial airline pilot and I was the director of marketing for a regional real estate services provider before going into the dryer vent business.
We have also committed to educate consumers in our community about dryer vent safety. So many people are unaware of the hidden fire hazards in thier clothes dryer vents. While they change furnace filters and have their furnace professionally cleaned, they neglect the clothes dryer. We've seen many dryers that still have the flexible, foil tubing rather than a more rigid material. This is a fire hazard!
There are over 15,000 clothes dryer fires a year in the US; most of them are caused by failure to properly maintain the dryer vent system.
Dryer Vent: Cleaning, Repair, Alteration & Installation Service
Dryer Vent Wizard professionally inspects and cleans clothing dryers for homeowners and in commercially-owned buildings. Poorly maintained dryer vents cause fire hazards and cost substantially more to operate.
(Click here to watch a Fire Prevention video)
Why Dryer Vent Cleaning is So Important!
Get a FREE Dryer Vent Check Safety Tool Kit
To increase awareness of dryer vent safety, DVW is offering Tips & Tools. Homeowners & community groups are encouraged to download the Tips brochure and the video, "Don´t Let Your Dryer Start a Fire, Keep Your Home Safe and Sound". FREE dryer vent safety check kits that help identify dryer vent problems can also be ordered!
Call 1-866-498-SAFE (7233) for your dryer check-up & cleaning
Great Dryer Vent Cleaning!
The following was sent to about 175 people by a satisfied customer:
"Okay, you are going to think I am crazy e-mailing you about your dryer - BUT - when we moved here over a year ago, I finally got a great set. Only when we used it, I noticed that after a few months I had to run it twice to get my loads dry. (I thought nothing of it b/c it seemed no matter where I lived, my dryers ran twice on heavy loads.) I just figured this is how it is with all dryers."
Well, the past few weeks, we have had to run our dryer even up to 4 times on a heavy load. There was even a "moldy" type smell in our towels. I called a dryer repair guy b/c I figured the heating element was going out. He told me that on dryers, if it is drying, even a little, it is more likely to be my dryer vent. He told me to hire someone to come and clean the vent that goes through the house.
I thought I could do it myself, so I went downstairs and pulled the vent out of the wall to find an extreme amount of build-up!!! It was damp and had that "moldy" smell that my towels have had. I tried to clean it out and the more I reached in the more clogged it was. I knew if it was clogged here, that the inside pipe had to be backed up.
I called a place called "Dryer Vent Wizard". It runs normally about $150 to come out, inspect and clean. That is for a normal 20 foot pipe. Ours ran 36 feet and was up and down and all around - causing our vent build-up. Even though it was over $150 for our case to clean it, let me tell you IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!
After he cleaned it out filling a 5 gallon tub full of lint, I ran my dryer for a load and it dried PERFECTLY in a shorter amount if time. I have honestly NEVER had my clothes dry so fast. It seems like common sense that the vent needs to be cleaned, but thinking about it, this house was never cleaned in over 20 years and no other house I ever lived in was ever cleaned - so it was never my dryers, but probably my vents all along!!!
Anyway, they charge $39 to come out and take a look. (For a membership type thing of like $29 they will come out once a year and not charge the $39 fee.)
I HIGHLY recommend it!! Just thought I´d pass this along! We spend time and money on ‘big purchases' like our oil changes, etc. - why not keep other important things maintained? Not to mention it is a huge fire hazard!
Dryer Vent Wizard´s # is: 1-866-498-safe (7233) for someone in your area. (Alabama)
Dryer Vent Cleaning Made my Dryer Feel Like New Again!
Clothes Dry Faster After Dryer Vent Cleaning
Great Job with Dryer Vent Tube Installation
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