Clean That Dryer!!

[Sixgun]

I hear from time to time about guys complaining that the dryer they bought only 2 years ago does not dry so well anymore.

I'm gonna cut this short. While your dryer may look nice from the outside, the lint and animal hair buildup inside of it can burn your house down, or at the very least, make it run an extra hour to promote wear and raise your electric bill.

It takes about an hour (at most) to clean it properly. Do yourself and your family a favor.

I clean mine every year. Keep in mind there are only 2 people living in my house and throughout the warmer months we use the outside clothesline.

I log when I last cleaned it.


Not quite one year later. This is the outlet. You have to take off the back cover and then take off the metal thingy that directs the air outside.


This is the thing you have to take off.


After cleaning the outlet I finally found my 45 rifle brush and a 219 round. I chucked the brush in
A drill and cleaned the holes with that.

[Mescalero]

Cause more fires than people realize.

[Streetstar]

Does your dryer have a removable lint screen somewhere in the front also?

I get an amazing build up of dryer lint due to the critters I share my life with----- now I'm curious whether I need to do that in the back also

[Blaine]

I won't run the dryer if I'm not in house....

[Pitchy]

Good tip 6 and why we only use a cloths line.

[AJMD429]

We replaced the long rough-insided metal dryer vent tube with a straight-shot of 4" PVC pipe that goes outside, which helped a lot.

[Sixgun]

Does your dryer have a removable lint screen somewhere in the front also?

I get an amazing build up of dryer lint due to the critters I share my life with----- now I'm curious whether I need to do that in the back also

Doug,
Yes, it does. The air has to go through those holes first and then it goes through the lint screen. Dog hairs and other crud stick to those holes over time. Then stuff that's heavy will get stuck on the bottom of that metal thingy and lint collects on that stuff.......it all build up over time to clog the whole mess up.

In my son's old house he had this 25 feet tube that ran under the floor boards and then outside. One day he was outside and noticed no air was coming out of the vent tube. An inspection and cleaning filled up a wheelbarrow of crud.---6

[Sixgun]

We replaced the long rough-insided metal dryer vent tube with a straight-shot of 4" PVC pipe that goes outside, which helped a lot.

Doc, good move but........it still collects lint on the inside of the dryer. A 1/4" nut driver will take off the back plate and the metal thingy that directs the air. that's what you want to clean.----6

[jeepnik]

I'm with Blaine, I won't run the dryer if no one is home. Learned that back in high school when a girl friend's house caught fire from an over heated dryer. You know, I still visit with her family and sometimes I swear you can still smell some of the smoke.

[Mescalero]

Good solution AJ,
My Timberon house the tube runs under the house.

[cas]

That wouldn't happen if you'd buy a tumbler.

[Blaine]

That wouldn't happen if you'd buy a tumbler.

What's that?

[cas]

Gettin' clogged with bullets.

[Rusty]

We have a brush with pieces of handle you can add to make it 15' long for cleaning the ducts. Cheaper than one trip from a service man.

[AJMD429]

We replaced the long rough-insided metal dryer vent tube with a straight-shot of 4" PVC pipe that goes outside, which helped a lot.

Doc, good move but........it still collects lint on the inside of the dryer. A 1/4" nut driver will take off the back plate and the metal thingy that directs the air. that's what you want to clean.----6

Yep. We clean that too, periodically. Gets crudded up about once a year, but we use a clothesline quite a bit.

[Streetstar]

That wouldn't happen if you'd buy a tumbler.

What's that?

What you drink Jack n Coke out of ----- I can only assume that enough of these, you wont care if your clothes are clean, dirty, dry or otherwise

[Sixgun]

That wouldn't happen if you'd buy a tumbler.

What's that?

CAS, I was only being an idiot......you know, being myself. I stuck those in for a bit of a laugh. ----6

[BenT]

Dang hairy Italians will clog up a dryer every time. If you can't shave your back get your wive to do it. We call it Yak shaving day in our house.

I clean mine in the spring because we only run it in the winter.

[Sixgun]

Dang hairy Italians will clog up a dryer every time. If you can't shave your back get your wive to do it. We call it Yak shaving day in our house.

I clean mine in the spring because we only run it in the winter.

Ha! Your right on the hairy Italian thing! Funny thing as even in the wintertime, I seldom use the dryer, preferring to hang my clothes on a line in the basement, next to my other wood stove. (Yea, redneck style). I like my clothes "crispy", not all liberalized with softener.

It's my wife who uses the dryer and she is a full blooded Italian. I've have been telling her she should start shaving her back, chest, and between the toes.

(man, if she see's this, I'm dead)--------6

[cas]

Ha! Your right on the hairy Italian thing!

Well you know the old saying…. "What's the difference between an Italian woman and a catfish?"

One has whiskers and smells, the other's a fish.

[2ndovc]

Yep, I've made lots of money over the years rebuilding homes because of dryers catching fire.

jb

[Mescalero]

What we have here is a golden opportunity to extract some of those nice guns out of sixgun.
Yeah, you better be glad she is not interested in what you do.

[Sixgun]

What we have here is a golden opportunity to extract some of those nice guns out of sixgun.
Yeah, you better be glad she is not interested in what you do.

Mes,
I have extremely bad news for you guys here and especially CAS.

First, after the first fifty guns my wife has no idea what I have, so....you might get a few, say some junky 1886's or some cheap 75% pre-war Colts SAA's.

I really have nothing to worry about for the next few days because Ms. Italiano saw the post on what CAS wrote and she is now on her way to N.Y. to stalk him out. She said something like, "fish huh? Does he know what we do, as by tomorrow, he is gonna be sleeping with some of those fish."

------6

[Ysabel Kid]

I won't run the dryer if I'm not in house....

+1

Jack - thanks for the post. This is an excellent reminder. Putting it on the list for things to do over the holidays.

[J35]

I am feeling guilty, our dryer is 28 years old, I have never had the back off, my wife don't do clotheslines so it is well used.

When we were first married back in AZ I made a heavy duty life time clothesline, about the second time my wife used it a dust devil came thru and she had to re-wash all the clothes, so that soured her.

When we moved to VA I never built a clothesline.

-----J

[Sixgun]

I won't run the dryer if I'm not in house....

+1Jack - thanks for the post. This is an excellent reminder. Putting it on the list for things to do over the holidays.

Kid, Your welcome Funny thing, we all take extra caution on our stoves and ovens and other obvious hazards, but not many people think of their dryers.

Look at the crud I found after only one year. But then again, we are farmer type people with lots of animals so maybe the shirt and tie people will not experience this.----6