Dryer Vent Cleaning & Inspection
Keeping The Dyer Vent Clean With The Help Of Professionals
When did you last have your dryer vent cleaned? Build up of lint and debris in your clothes dryer can make it exhaust and lower its efficiency. This causes the development of potentially dangerous situations such as possibility of fires and intrusion of carbon monoxide. In case a gas clothes dryer is not vented properly, or the debris is blocking its exhaust duct, the carbon monoxide gas is released back into the living space of your home.
The Dryer Exhaust Technicians at Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney are CSIA Certified and perform inspections, cleaning and verification of the venting system, ensuring that it is the right size and correctly installed. For instance, the plastic transition ducts that join the dryer to the wall must be replaced with metal ducts as it is non-flammable in comparison to plastic. Annual inspections of the exhaust vent are more important than they were before, as the structures of the homes today are more complex. In newer homes, dryers are usually situated away from the walls and near the kitchens, bathrooms and hall closets for convenience, but from a safety standpoint, this could pose a potential hazard. Longer venting distances are required for these locations and more bends in the system. This makes the dryer ducts even harder to reach and clean, and the expanded length creates more room for lint to accumulate and animals and birds to hide.
In a report created by the US Fire Administration, it was revealed that clothes dryers accounted for about 15,600 reported fires, 15 fatalities and 400 injuries annually between the years 2002 and 2004. The leading factor behind the fires in residential buildings is the failure to clean the ducts properly. It has been recommended by the Chimney Safety Institute of America that you hire CSIA Certified Exhaust Technician to perform cleaning procedures on your clothes dryer system. The Certified Dryer Exhaust Technicians at Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney have passed extensive examinations on dryer vents inspection and maintenance, along with the codes applicable and the standards associated with the vent systems. Apart from the safety inspections, an experienced exhaust technician can help you keep the clothes dryer system at optimum efficiency, which will reduce the energy consumption and increase the life of the system, saving you money and hassle along the way.
Appliance Efficiency
With a clean exhaust duct, you can prevent the trapping of moisture, heat and in case of gas dryers, this will keep the carbon monoxide out of your homes. When the spillage of these aspects occurs, natural resources, energy and time is wasted as the appliance performs harder and needs to run for a longer period of time to achieve results that require a short duration. The wallpapers, drywalls, ceilings and other building materials can be severely damaged due to the moisture.
Wearing Out Of Your Clothes Dryer
If it takes your dryer twice the time to dry the clothes than it should usually, the loads that it can dry is reduced by half in number. The life of your dryer decreases when it runs at temperatures higher than it is designed for. Due to the overworked controls, the heating element of the dryer can burn out or could ignite a house fire as well.
7 Facts about The Safety Of Clothes Dryer Exhaust That You Should Know
- A dryer must be at least 4 inches in diameter and should be as large as the outlet of the dryer, according to the local codes and specifications of the manufacturers.
- The developed length of the dryer exhaust duct should not be more than 25 feet, unless it has been specified otherwise by the manufacturer. Consider each 90 degree turn as 5 feet when determining the developed length of the exhaust duct.
- The vents of the dryer should terminate outdoors and must be independent of all other systems. The vents should not join with the crawl space, chimney or the attic of the house.
- To ensure that the exhaust is not released back into the home, the outside dryer exhaust should be equipped with a back draft damper.
- Between the exhaust duct and the dryer, metal transition ducts should be used.
- The use of flexible transition ducts should be avoided in the wall, the attic and a crawl space.
- The credential of CSIA Certified Exhaust Technician is the only one of its kind which is nationally accredited.
Contact us today and we will send our best experts to inspect the dryer vent and clean it for efficiency and reduction of energy consumption.
