Do I have to vent my dryer outside?

Q:

Do I have to vent my dryer outside the home?

A:

There is a simple answer to this question and the answer is YES you do, you should always vent your dryer outside your home and you should never use a dryer without the vent working properly.

There are many reasons for venting your dryer outside the home. Here is a list of them;

• Dryer’s exhaust hot moist air, this air if not vented will create mold on the drywall behind the dryer and inside the room if it is small enough can severely damage the drywall in the entire space. Drywall does not like hot moist air.

• Dryer’s have a tendency to exhaust lint even though they have a vent lint trap. When lint collects in an enclosed space like behind a dryer it piles up and with the super heated hot air endlessly blowing on it from the dryer it can cause a fire. Many houses have burnt down because of an improperly vented dryer exhaust.

• New steam dryers are so hot that they cannot be vented with anything but stainless steel piping. The amount of hot steam that could be released behind the dryer with no venting could easily rot out the floor below the dryer.

• The vent dust can be harmful to people if it is blown into the air and inhaled. Clothes are made with a lot of chemicals on them and dryer sheets are also a chemical that aren’t meant to be breathed in through the air by humans.

• A non vented dryer is a lot louder than a vented dryer, the large amount of air that is produced by the dryer can make a lot of noise when not venting outside.

• The hot moist air can damage the underside of the dryer and the washer if it is next to it. The hot moist air becomes trapped under the appliances and has little to no air movement. This causes mold to form and appliances to rust over time.

When you are venting a dryer you should avoid using the plastic flexible piping, with enough hot air this plastic can overheat and melt causing damage and possibly a fire. The hood on the outside of the building should be made of metal and not plastic. The hood should also not have a metal screen in it like a lot of vent hoods, the screen will collect lint and could cause fires or lead to clogging of the pipe over time.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.