As winter wears on, sometimes you just get in the mood to clean. Not just cleaning that simply requires dusting and vacuuming, or making the beds and putting away the clothes, but cleaning that involves a much more thorough scrubbing and decluttering of your house. It just feels good after being cooped up in your home throughout the long winter to throw open the windows, let the fresh breezes blow through, and know that everything is cleaned and in its proper place. But there’s one area that many people don’t consider having cleaned – the dryer vent. We all know that the lint tray needs to be cleaned out after every load or two, and that should be enough, right? No! Neglecting to have your dryer vents professionally cleaned is risky and could endanger your home and your family.
Why Is Dryer Vent Cleaning Important?
When you wash clothes, dirt and lint come out of the clothes and into the washer water. When you place your wet clothes into the dryer, the water is blown out of the clothes, as is the lint that was stuck to the garments. The blower system in your dryer pushes that lint through the lint screen, where much of it sticks. This is exactly what you want to happen, as you can simply peel the lint off and throw it away. However, some of that lint will inevitably get through and travel down your dryer vent to be blown outdoors. The thing is, some of it also gets caught along the interior of the vent on the way out, and this catches more lint until, over time, a thick buildup can occur. This is dangerous; this highly flammable material is just tinder waiting to catch a spark and start a fire.
Fortunately, there are some signs that you can detect that let you know that this is happening. Probably the first thing you’ll notice is that it’s taking longer for your clothes to dry. Another sign may be that the clothes feel hotter than they should. Because that lint is blocking the airflow, your dryer motor is having to work harder to push the air through, which is hard on the motor and causes it to heat up. That heat will transfer to the clothes being dried. You might also notice a large amount of lint sticking to the outside vent, or that your lint tray is filling up more quickly than normal.
Call in the Professionals
If you notice any of these signs, you should give Black Velvet Chimney a call right away. You use your dryer a lot, and a full dryer vent is a dangerous situation. At Black Velvet, we have video equipment which allows us to see the amount of buildup in your dryer vents and high powered vacuums that let us clear out that buildup in no time at all. Give us a call today and eliminate that fire hazard!
Recent Comments