How to Clean Your Dryer Vent and Duct (before a fire starts!)
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2020
- Clean out your dryer vent/duct yourself once a year using these helpful tips!
Order your duct brush here:
www.amazon.com/dp/B081TNML6D/...
(This is a different product to the one I used in the video, though it's quite similar.) 
Хобби
I love how down to earth you are in your presentation and delivery.
As a single mom fairly new homeowner, I greatly appreciate your page! My dryer started giving me errors and it turns out its a blockage. My parents told me to have someone come out to clean it... im thankful I found your page instead!
I also noticed your Rosie (red and white polka dot) bandana in your pocket. Any time I do any handy work around the house, I wear my Rosie bandana :)
Thank your for watching and commenting!
I have been putting off doing this because I was scared, but your tutorial made it seem so easy! I did it no problem! Thank you
Me too! I think I can tackle this now!
Oh my gosh, now I have to clean my dryer vent. 😩 These are awesome tips. Thank you my dear.
I turn on the dryer while cleaning outside and it help in clean out the lint.. Great Video!
I love your tutorial!! Just a tip for those who love to camp: Save all you lint in empty toilet
paper rolls for easy & quick fire starters!!!
Nice!
I love this. Thank you for this stuff. My father loves teaching me this mechanical stuff but is too impatient to be in that role. I feel like I could be an apprentice under you very easily without being left behind.
Lol. Patience with our kids and spouses is typically lower than with the other 7 billion people on the planet. It should be the reverse, but sadly, it isn’t.
Really enjoyed this video, thank you. Moving the washer and dryer to clean floor and wall this coming weekend. Now I know how to clean the duct as well.
I love her. She really breaks it down for me. Watched several but this is the one ✅
You SOooooooooo Rock!!!! Never would have had the confidence to even try this. Thank you.
Love the idea of your channel and found this video helpful! As a regular power tool user, I love learning from other women!
Good information, thanks! One thing I would add is when you're using an extension rod with the drill, make sure it is in the forward (clockwise) setting, to keep from loosening the connector.
If u have too buy 2 kits to extend at home depot
Some notes:
- If you feed the bush from the inside all the way to the exterior and past the hinged exterior vent door, be careful. That plastic hinged vent door can easily pop off when trying to retrieve the brush. We work from the exterior with the interior duct connected and try to pull out as much lint to the exterior of the house first. Less Interior mess.
- Take the interior flex duct outside before cleaning it. If it’s a DIY job, whatever, but my customers pay me to clean their ductwork, so I try to not get dust everywhere.
- Not sue inhaling lint will kill you, but a dust mask is cheap. In 2022, we all have them.l!
Excellent notes!!! Was thinking the same things.
can I ask if the outside vent’s flap thing is supposed to stay open?
@@karebear4957It should only open when the dryer is running.
I like the idea of taping the pieces together for added security.
Always owned gas dryers. Always used flexible tubing. In fact all my dryers were installed by reputable companies. No issues. (One dryer lasted over 30 years) Need to turn off gas and undo gas line to dryer and unplug from wall. If using drill with the brush make sure it is going in clockwise rotation. Like screwing in a screw. Going backward and extensions could come apart. Thanks for the video.
You’re the kind of neighbor I would like to have 😃
You also can do it, with the tools is easy
Love the outtakes, thank you!
I love that you showed the BTS, you wouldn't believe how many projects I've taken on by watching RUclips videos while making up so many curse words. Yes the job gets done but it definitely doesn't go as smooth as it does on the video.
Good video- some suggestions. 1) once you’ve reamed out both ends of dryer duct - get leaf blower and seal it behind dryer. Run it and see lint come out. Leaf blower is more powerful than dryer fan. 2) put a 2x6 board against the back wall to prevent kinking / crushing flexible dryer vent hose
I learned about this in my first home. My dryer was “broken”, it would take forever to dry a load. So I googled it to see if I could fix it myself. The search brought up dryer lint. At that time I didn’t think I could handle cleaning it out myself so I hired a guy to do it for me. I watched the extraction of lint come out on my roof, it was the shape and size of a newborn baby. My very own lint baby!
Bruh.
This is my first time visiting on your RUclips page and I love what I am seeing. Your info definitely will be helpful for a lot of the single ladies. I also love the suggestions in the comments! ❤😊
Just did this with my dryer ductwork. Should have considered there was a vent problem when it was taking forever for items (especially towels) to dry. Finally one day my wife tells me the outside of the dryer was very warm. I went outside and looked up at the exhaust vent and could see lint had totally clogged the vent. Tried to blow it out from the dryer side with a leaf blower but there was just too much. The dryer is in a second-floor laundry closet and the ductwork runs up (about 9 feet) to the attic from inside the wall and then makes a 90-degree bend and runs abou15 feet across the attic to exit the side of the house over the garage. Unfortunately, the exhaust point was too high above a sloped garage roof to reach without a ladder so I had to try and clear it from the dryer side. To avoid two 90-degree turns I went up into the attic and disconnected the ductwork at the elbow. The flex rods and brush did a great job. I cleaned out the long horizontal ductwork first, then the shorter 9 foot vertical run to where the dryer connects. The only mishap was punching out one of the vent flaps and breaking another - but the clog was gone and the dryer is working well. I have a chimney sweep coming to put a better vent cover/defender on. It was nice to share your "oops". Makes me feel better about mine.
I was a secretary for an arson/accidental fire investigator for 15 years - we had several dryer/lint fires - some with fatalities. Folks do not understand how easily this can start a fire, nor how easy it is to prevent - put it on your calendar like each Tax Day or something to remind you to do it annually.
Thanks for the tip about a gas dryer!
This lady really knows her stuff she sure taught me something👍 👍
Next thing to get. A "MASK".
Yeah, you're not the only one who has mentioned that, and you're right.
That should've been the first thing.
First not next
Hey ChickFix. As a suggestion I would use Electrical tape to hold the threaded attachments together. It's a lot easier to take apart than duct tape.
I bet it is! Thanks for the tip!
many people actually replace their dryer before checking the vent... great video, thank you
Yep! I do dryer vent cleaning in So Cal and I have had several customers who have unknowingly done just that. One lady bought 3 dryers in a year and a half due to a blocked vent!
@@HighSierraBob what part of So Cal.?
@@mohammadsarkarzadeh3878 - Orange County.
Really needed this tonight. Thanks.
Great option and video. May have missed this detail, duct tape individual sections of the extensions including the brush. I did not duct tape brush, it twisted off and turned a quick job into a phreaking project. Took some additional time, but vent is good to go....(:)
Excellent explanation and thanks for sharing those funny and dangerous moments!
Thank you Ms. ChickFix USA for this video.
Thanks for the video,I’m going to do this right away ! Great reaction and I like seeing a woman that’s not afraid of getting dusty ! 😂
FYI if your vents are really bad or you use the dryer a lot you should also get the inside of the dryer serviced/cleaned, the dryer itself is as important as the vent , I have seen 5-6 inches of hard packed lint under the drum even coated around the heating element. As for the lint filter you should soak it in hot water for a but and scrub it clean with a soft brush .
My dryer wasn't drying properly and getting moisture and lint inside the drum so I took the back off to look inside and there was lint EVERYWHERE! So much lint. All over everything. Exactly like you described here. Even on the heating element! Our dryer broke and a friend gave us this one but I guess he never cleaned it out.😂
It's great, I use the same tool but that comes with a cover that fits in the duct opening and it has a hole for the vacuum, that way you don't have to breath all of that or get it all messy.
I have the same tool also that comes with a cover. My dryer vent went up 8’ then 90 degrees and across the garage ceiling for another 12’. A lot of lint at the 90 degrees. I will clean the dryer vent more frequently with the tool.
Thank you for this great video...where did you get those long brushes that went inside the vent and came out????
Thank you for a real true to life video. You are appreciated. 👍🏽
That's what I'm all about! I'm glad you found it helpful
Thanks for making this helpful video
Thank you for posting this!
Cleaning it is essential but it’s safer and cleaner to use a shop vac attach to it so you don’t spread potential Microplastic fibers into the air and into the environment. Most of Microplastic is coming from our air dryer lint. So if you have synthetic clothing it’s best to air dry it on the line
Love the "behind the scene" feature presentation ;)
I use the lint from my dryer as a fire starter for my wood stove, works great.
That’s a great idea! We have a ton in a little trash can in the laundry room.
The direction of that chuck turning is important so you actually have your brush wand actually unwind and come off in the duct, which might be impossible to get out if it were a really long duct like at your house!!
Correct. The drill should be spinning in direction like it is tightening a screw
Thanks sooooo much for this tutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to clean my vent!!!
With the power off to the dryer, I also take the lower front cover off the dryer to clean below the lint screen and bottom of the dryer with a vacuum. I am always amazed how much lint gets in there, very close to the heat source. IMO cleaning the vent is only half of the job.
Great tip!
Wow! Thank you for that!
I blasted mine with my leaf blower from the inside and then used my shop vac with a long hose to clean out the vent from the outside. A lot less mess.
I like your idea
That what I do. Works great.
Thanks! Great idea.
You are spot on! That is the ideal and quick way to clean the vent and pipe out without making a dusty mess inside the house. I first took the cover off the vent opening on the outside, unattached my vent pipe from my dryer and took it outside, and then stuck the blower nozzle down in the vent opening from the inside of my home, threw a towel over the blower nozzle and my hand and turned on the blower and boom. When I went outside to blow out the pipe and put the cover back over the vent opening it looked like a stuffed animal had exploded across my lawn.
I have never understood why laundry hookups aren’t positioned next to an outside wall for just this reason. Our house has the hookup in 5he garage, but apparently when the house was. Built in the early 60’s, nobody thought to put a place for the dryer to vent. Hubby and I installed the vent ourselves. Directly behind the dryer, and right to the outside.
I always clean from outside. Turn on the dryer and it will push out the lint right away
Thanks for sharing this informative video. 👏👏👏👏
Thanks so much for this awesome video!
Today I started the cleaning process. The rigid pipes run across the ceiling of the laundry room and out through the foundation and under the porch to the outside vent. It is very easy to take the pipes down and blow them out in the backyard. I looked into the pipe under the porch, looks like a buildup so I am going to buy the duct brush. But the flashlight also revealed that a length of pipe about three feet out from the foundation under the porch has slipped. As a result lint is also released under the porch (on a concrete pad). There is only about 6 inches clearance under the porch beams so there is no crawl access. Any thoughts on how to get that errant piece back in either before or after I take the brush to it?
Duct tape does not seem necessary unless you expect to run the drill in reverse. I had a different problem: the plastic rods breaking by twisting off near the metal connecting end. Luckily all three breaks were where I could reach the rest to pull them out. Turned out to be much easier to go in from the outside, after loosening the outside vent cap to spin it around so rods didn’t have to make as sharp a turn.
That was so funny!!! U a kewl chic keep up the good work 😀
Loved it, thank you. Hello from new subscriber. Great channel. 💕
I know this video is a coupe years old, but I'd like to add this anyway for those who have not seen it. I used to clean dryer vents and duct work for a living so here goes. We would use a drill like in the vid or just manually work it, but we would have a shop vac attached to the outside. This way it pulled what was knocked loose, and collect up that lint. Instead of just letting it fly all over. We had adapters made to also fit the rear exit on the dryer, It doesn't have to be anything special, an old coffee can will do. And be sure the hose isn't crushed, or bent shut when the dryer is pushed back into place. Hope this helps someone.,,,
Thank you for the tips! A shop vac would have been an excellent addition to this project. It's something that's a great addition to any homeowners tool arsenal anyway.
Clean flexy pipe out side less dust in house.
Great video
Get this women her own show!!!
Excelent video ! Thank you
If you could find a smaller brush that fits the poles you could probably use it to clean the downspouts as well.
the lint is used as a firestarter for our scouts on camp outs.
Right there with you my friend! ruclips.net/video/ptWvcLL_LZc/видео.html
Great to use outside for campfires.
Dryer lint use to be mostly cotton or other natural fibers.
Now a great deal of synthetic fibers are in the mix.
Chemical vapors are released when synthetic fiber burns.
Not so good for inside fires.
@@ithacacomments4811 excellent point!
Great video. I have used my blower to clear the pipe effectively. Be careful to cover the pipe from the home side so that the lint is blown out otherwise your wife will be mad.
Lol. Thanks for the laugh. Hope she’s no longer mad!!!
Awesome video!
Best teacher
Nice job! 👍. Would also use mask and vacuum cleaner. Have never tried this but good to know.
Question, as it being a service, what would you charge for a cleaning?
Just cleaned mine last night, used my Air Gun, & Brush, now Trixie(my dryer) is now running so efficiently.
If you have a leaf blower, battery operated only, you could blow the vent. Same tool can clean up condenser coil under the refrigerator as well.
My friend's hubby is an appliance repairman, and told me to do this.
No joke, we considered that when looking at my fridge vent! But boy, that would take weeks to clean up!
I 'm greatly impressed, she can clean out my tubing anytime she is free.
Have to do mine tomorrow. Ours vents out on the third floor. Have to go into the attic, separate the duct before it goes outside and clean the trap with my hand and small vacuum.
You are a pretty remarkable lady! In my younger days I could have done that. I may call someone to clean my vent. I don’t want a fire. 🔥
good to keep the dryer lint for campfire kindling fire starter.
Make sure when pushing the dryer back in place that the flex tube dosnt get crimped up against the wall or extra tube and restrict air flow.
That's the problem with mine and I have no choice because there's no physical space in the dryer area. Good old DR Horton making every area as small and as cheap as they could possibly get away with. It's pathetic.
THANKS FOR THE TIP 👍🏽🇺🇸
Loved the totorial! Only just one very important added tip that l didn't see addressed:
Be sure the drill is set to turn clockwise and not in reverse! If set in reverse, the connecting extensions will unthread from one another while inside the tubing which can be very tough to retrieve.
You should always drive your drill clockwise even when pulling it back out to keep the extensions from coming apart.🤔 Your Welcome! 😉
watching this made my eyes and throat scratchy. I have an extra COVID mask or 3 to wear while doing this job. Our dryer vent goes 15 ft. thru a utility closet. I bought this kit. Im praying my cleaning goes as EZ as yours. I just paid $100. to have my dryer 'fixed' but NOTHING was done aside from the man drying a load of wet towels. He sez the issue is the vent. It will be my only time using him...he is the one told me that it was probably the heating element/heat fuse that went bad and not to spend $$$ on cleaning the vent til he checked the dryer.
This was really well done.
Thank you!
Great video
Thanks for the “how to” vid. When you put the brush in the exit vent attached to the dryer, aren’t you pushing lint back up in there?
Lent also gets down under the screen that you remove every time you use the dryer. I was so surprised of how much collected back there.
Oh ya I love your presentation and your video 😃
I just cleaned there in the home 🏡 just moved into. There was a sock Under the lint catcher!!??😳
Great video. House fires are so scary! How often should you do this? Where can I purchase the brushes/extenders?
Thanks for your kind words! I would do it at least once a year. There is a link to a brush in the description of the video.
Awesome video Mrs. Gorgeous 👍🛠✂️🔩
The flex duct will catch fire also. It has paper in it. There are flexible metal ducts. They are more rigid, but still flexible. Be careful!
I was only reading down the list of comments to see when someone would mention this. You should never use that type of duct as it is a fire hazard. I don’t know why they even make that stuff.
Dryer breakdowns are caused by clogged dryer vents. In many cases cleaning lint in dryer vents will solve the problem.
Very informative, thnx
Electrical tape works to 🙂. Awsome video
Great video! If you had called me I could have spotted you when you went partly out the window! LOL
That lint sure burned fast. It's also bad to breath, so buy an N95 mask to protect your lungs.
Great sharing thanks you
Did you duct tape all the links on the flexible pole before you lost the brush end in the vent? My concern with purchasing the Amazon product was losing a portion of the tube in a long fun of vent.
You don’t lose a piece if the drill is operated clockwise and never reversed. To prevent the plastic from breaking in the event of an obstruction use a drill with variable speed and torque control. I’ve never had a vent dryer rod cleaning tool break.
What about taking the back of the dryer off and cleaning inside of that right where the Pilot white is that would start the fire in the dryer, You would be amazed how much is inside the dryer more than in the Vent.
Thank you for that tip! Mine is an electric, not gas, so there's no pilot light.
Make sure the drill spins the brush clockwise.
very interesting and funny video, very handy demo. many thanks. subscribe immediately.
Thanks for that.
If you don't do this you can set fire to or burn out your dryer. There's a thermal safety in the dryer. Once that breaks then your dryer overheats the heating element. Moist air causes the lint to cake on the inside of the tubes. The flex tubes are the worst. I use the lint as firestarter. Stuff ignites in a second. Don't use those " soft flex ". Get the tubes that are harder and still flex. The soft tubes are less resistant to heat and 🔥, oh yeah get some ventilation while you do it. I use an air cleaner as well. Helps.
How do you know if the thermal safety went? My dryer was getting really hot and the back grate inside the drum where the clothes go was getting charred and it smelled like it was gonna catch on fire and there was a big buildup of lint there. I took the dryer apart to clean out all the lint and there was a ton of it. It seems like the blower isn't blowing also. 😢
My vent is not made of rigid walls of steel. It is spring Steel Wire PVC Hose. I am afraid to use one of those brushes on it because it might mess it up. Am I right?
I bet you had a coughing jag a day later. I know I did. Because I just thought I could hold my shirt over my nose the whole time or that it "wouldn't be that bad." When will I learn to keep a supply of dust masks?
Do all homes have that?
Did u turn off the gas to the dryer
For best drying results clean out dryer screen before every load
Man I just put a vent cleaning kit in my amazon shopping cart. I've had my house for 6 years and didn't know I was supposed to do this regularly. My drier is a hand me down and doesn't have the lint screen thing that you pull out. It has one that I just stick my hand into and clean out...but now I'm thinking it's missing a piece...good luck to me!! Its gonna be gross!
Thank you , thank you, thank you.
Good sharing