Often overlooked by the majority of Americans, clogged dryer vents can lead to serious problems within the home, and as reported by The National Fire Protection Association, they have been known to have caused a number of deaths, injuries and millions of dollars of property damage in recent years.

Poorly maintained dryer vents are a real hazard, and many house fires every year are caused by them. To better protect yourself from such an event, it’s important to try and understand how a dryer vent works, and what makes it get so dirty and clogged:

How does your dryer vent get so dirty?

Every time you place a load of clothes into the dryer, the heat, friction and garments combined, will create lint that are collected in your dryers filter; some will also go through your exhaust vent. Lint is a highly flammable material, and the heat inside your dryer can create a spark for a fire if it’s damaged or has been poorly maintained. Then, the moisture or humidity from the drying process causes lint to stick where it shouldn’t, and this is where the lint filter comes in. However, if this isn’t cleaned regularly, it will become blocked and fail to do its job, leaving lint to build up elsewhere.

Dryer vents are also often poorly attached to the wall, or over the course of time, breaks free from the connection due to the vibrations. Because the dryer vent is behind the machine, lint will then begin to accumulate around the heating elements, and all it takes is one spark or electrical surge to create a fire with potentially devastating consequences.

How to check your dryer vent

Be sure to look behind your dryer frequently to ensure that the vent is fully connected, and if you spot any moisture beginning to build up, call out the professionals to check it right away.

If your clothes are taking longer to dry than usual, then this could be caused by trapped moisture and lint, which goes on to cause moisture to remain in the dryer, perpetuating the drying process. Aside from this being an inconvenience, it also makes the whole drying process incredibly inefficient, and you could start to notice it eating up the air conditioning. In some more severe cases, the walls close to the dryer might become damp, too.

While spotting that your dryer vent has a problem - such as being clogged - is the first step towards resolving the problem, once you hire someone to come and clean it, it’s important to remember that this should be done on a regular basis. There is no cure for a clogged dryer vent, instead, you should have it professionally cleaned at least on a yearly basis.

Clogged dryer vents can cause a serious fire hazard, so don’t waste any time having them checked and cleaned.

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