As you’ve managed to land this page right now, we assume that you have a dryer duct in your home. And you are very aware of the information that- a dirty dryer duct is too much unbearable for you as a homeowner.
In fact, why not? A dirty and dusty dryer duct can cause a severe fire hazard, and it reduces the effectiveness of the dryer itself.
So, we’ve decided to put a complete guide on dryer vent cleaning for you. We’ve split this discussion into two segments- steps on how to clean dryer vent from outside, and inside.
How to clean dryer vent? Here guides
Take a few minutes to check out both of them-
Steps on how to clean dryer vent from inside
Step 1: Pull it off from the wall
At first, locate the duct and it’s a way to get from your room to the wall. There is usually a 4 inches diameter opening in your room, which we have to clean at this stage. As they are connected to the wall, we have to detach it from the wall.
Now, pull the dryer away from the wall for which you can stand behind it with ease. Now, get some newspaper or a couple of old towels and put them under the dryer vent area outside.
Before continuing to the next step, don’t forget to disconnect the dryer from the power socket.
Step 2: Clean it off with a brush
Detach the dryer hose from the point where it is connected with the wall. Now, take a brush with strong bristle and put it into the vent. Make sure that you’ve reached the brush to the area of the vent which is inside the wall.
Now, grab the handle of the brush and start moving it back and forth. Also, apply rotary motions to the brush to make the cleaning process more efficient.
After continuing the process for about 5 minutes, many of the lint and dust will come out.
Pro tip- if you don’t get a brush that serves you wish to clean up the entire duct, there are duct cleaning kits available in the market that contain a 2 feet long brush with extendable handles. On the necessity, they can be extended up to 12 feet.
Step 3: Vacuum Clean the Duct
As long as you have rolled the brush into the duct into your wall, some of the dust had come out from inside. And a decent amount of them are still inside, that merely the brush bristles couldn’t take off.
Use a shop vacuum cleaner at this point, and take those tiny dust particles out. For further accuracy, vacuum clean the dust twice.
Once done, take all the dirt from the towel or newspaper away. If necessary, vacuum clean that area as well.
Step 4: Put everything back on their places
After you are done with all three steps above, it’s time to put all the things back to their places. This is rather simple if you’ve been attentive enough while taking them off at first place.
While putting everything back, there is one exception. And that is- if your duct system uses a soft foil-type vent to link the wall duct, don’t put it back over again. Because this is a pretty suspicious source of catching the entire duct system on fire.
Once the parts are done with keeping back to their place, put the power back on, and have a test drive. If everything works fine, we’re done!
Steps on how to clean dryer vent from outside
Step 1: Get the vent ready to be cleaned
Before stepping into the actual cleaning process of your dryer vent with hose, it’s essential to get it ready for the process. It starts with unplugging the dryer vent from the power source. If it has a gas base, then turn off the gas line as well.
Once done, proceed to the next steps-
Step 2: Detach the vent cover
Usually, outsider vents contain a protective cover to protect any insects or objects from getting into it. At this point, you’ve to detach the cover.
To take the cover off, you can try putting hand pressure at the first stage. If it’s not coming off, then take a tool to detach it by applying pressure.
Once it’s unattached, check for any extreme cautions like insect infestation, etc. As you’re going to put your hands inside it, these sorts of situations might lead to damage to your palms and hands.
Step 3: Clean the outsider opening with a brush
Now, take a brush with long and extendable handle and insert its head into the vent opening on the outside direction. Make gentle moves with the brush and make sure that that direction of the movement is being uninformed. Apply sie by side movements and rotary movements as well.
Step 4: Vacuum clean the opening
Once you are done with detaching most of the dust and dirt from the opening, apply a shop vacuum cleaner to take them out. Otherwise, it’s hard to take out with bare hands or any other hand tool.
Step 5: Clean the vent cover
The vent cover that we took off earlier, is also pretty much dirty usually. At this stage, you have to clean it properly before putting it back.
You can use soapy water to clean the oily dust up. All you have to do it immerse it into the well-made soapy water and keep it there for 10 minutes.
Once done, wash it off with clean water and dry it up. Put it back when it’s dried up completely.
Bottom Line
If you look at this in a simple way, cleaning your dryer duct is not that much of a complicated job. You don’t need to hire a home cleaning services and spend hundreds of bucks after it. All you need is to be alert enough to maintain a healthy, clean and fully functioning dryer vent. Good luck!
