sullim4 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I have a 13 year old Kenmore dryer that I inherited from the previous owners of my townhouse. I am having issues with it drying clothes in a timely manner. I've tried the usual troubleshooting steps - the HOA just cleaned the outside vent two weeks ago. I also had the guy come in and clean out the dryer for a few bucks, and I just replaced the old, excessively long exhaust vent with a new rigid vent. However, it is still taking hours to clean a full load. The dryer is heating up without any issue. One peculiar thing is that the lint trap is only ever dirty in one small corner - all the lint congregates there and is never spread throughout the trap. Before I spend money on sending someone out to look at it, or just replacing it given its age, does anyone have any ideas on what might be wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 A Louisville slugger could be useful in this situation. If that doesn't work then I'm stumped Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOBILLS78 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I don't have any tips for you, but it seems to me the average lifespan of those things is about 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Is the basket rotating and tumbling your clothes around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Yep, the drum is rotating. I'll try disconnecting the outside venting and seeing if the airflow is powerful with nothing in there - I would imagine that would at least isolate the issue to being either the dryer or the venting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhg Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 (edited) Yep, the drum is rotating. I'll try disconnecting the outside venting and seeing if the airflow is powerful with nothing in there - I would imagine that would at least isolate the issue to being either the dryer or the venting. Can you feel the air flowing freely to the outside vent? Gas or electric dryer? Edited April 9, 2012 by dhg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 We had the same problem years ago. Had to replace the whole venting system from the dryer to the outside vent. It was clogged to the point on no air getting through. Not fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Can you feel the air flowing freely to the outside vent? Gas or electric dryer? Outside vent is unfortunately on the roof, and being in a townhouse I don't have a ladder tall enough to get up there to check. It's an electric dryer. It's definitely getting hot enough - when one cycle ends the inside is hot as are the clothes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Outside vent is unfortunately on the roof, and being in a townhouse I don't have a ladder tall enough to get up there to check. It's an electric dryer. It's definitely getting hot enough - when one cycle ends the inside is hot as are the clothes. Your vent is clogged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 (edited) Outside vent is unfortunately on the roof, and being in a townhouse I don't have a ladder tall enough to get up there to check. It's an electric dryer. It's definitely getting hot enough - when one cycle ends the inside is hot as are the clothes. Just had our vents changed as well. Our's goes over the ceiling in the garage and we were getting mold there, kept thinking we had a leak. It was all that semi rigid stuff , guess over time stuff gets stuck int he ridges and it starts to collect. This is a franchise, but we used these guys based on several recommendations. At least you know these guys get some specialized training. Dude was here all day, working his ass off and whole thing was like $625. Guess ask around your place for recommendations as well. http://www.dryerventwizard.com/ Edited April 9, 2012 by plenzmd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Just had our vents changed as well. Our's goes over the ceiling in the garage and we were getting mold there, kept thinking we had a leak. It was all that semi rigid stuff , guess over time stuff gets stuck int he ridges and it starts to collect. This is a franchise, but we used these guys based on several recommendations. At least you know these guys get some specialized training. Dude was here all day, working his ass off and whole thing was like $625. Guess ask around your place for recommendations as well. http://www.dryerventwizard.com/ What we noticed was a leak in the ceiling. Called someone out and they said it was leaking from all the clogged lint in the vent duct. They had to cut a hole in the ceiling to repair it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartshan-83 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I agree that it sounds like your vent is clogged. And while your roof setup might make your situation more complicated than mine, I went through this about a year ago. Now our vent exhaust runs out the back of our house, about parallel to the dryer, so like I said, it sounds like your situation might be more difficult. But what I did was get a shop-vac and I went Spaceballs on both sides of the vent (alternating suck to blow ). Man, nasty-ass lint, fluff and other god-knows-what rained down on me like asbestos. I couldn't believe how much of the stuff was caught in the vent (I'd estimate the piping ran about 12-15 feet from dryer to exhaust vent). I could've filled 5-6 construction-sized buckets. I was at it for about two hours before I was finally satisfied that most of the crap was blown out. The difference in the amount of "wind" I could feel on my hand on the outside vent before and after the cleaning was night and day. So if something like this is feasible, you might save yourself some coin. Of course, I'm sure I breathed in/swallowed at least a few sweaters worth of lint that had accumulated over the previous 25-30 years of prior ownership. So um, wear a mask or something... Works like a charm now though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBud Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Try this site for troubleshooting - Repairclinic.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I agree that it sounds like your vent is clogged. And while your roof setup might make your situation more complicated than mine, I went through this about a year ago. Now our vent exhaust runs out the back of our house, about parallel to the dryer, so like I said, it sounds like your situation might be more difficult. But what I did was get a shop-vac and I went Spaceballs on both sides of the vent (alternating suck to blow ). Man, nasty-ass lint, fluff and other god-knows-what rained down on me like asbestos. I couldn't believe how much of the stuff was caught in the vent (I'd estimate the piping ran about 12-15 feet from dryer to exhaust vent). I could've filled 5-6 construction-sized buckets. I was at it for about two hours before I was finally satisfied that most of the crap was blown out. The difference in the amount of "wind" I could feel on my hand on the outside vent before and after the cleaning was night and day. So if something like this is feasible, you might save yourself some coin. Of course, I'm sure I breathed in/swallowed at least a few sweaters worth of lint that had accumulated over the previous 25-30 years of prior ownership. So um, wear a mask or something... Works like a charm now though... Here is a dumb question but why are your vents so long? My vent that is hooked to the dryer is about 4-5 feet & goes right outside the house. I mean if your vents are 25 30 feet it is only a matter of time before stuff gets clogged up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 What we noticed was a leak in the ceiling. Called someone out and they said it was leaking from all the clogged lint in the vent duct. They had to cut a hole in the ceiling to repair it. Should have mentioned the $625 does not count whatever the drywall guy gunna charge me to get the ceiling repaired ... Least the house didn't burn down Here is a dumb question but why are your vents so long? My vent that is hooked to the dryer is about 4-5 feet & goes right outside the house. I mean if your vents are 25 30 feet it is only a matter of time before stuff gets clogged up. I can tell you for us, washer/dryer in room on front of house, vent has to be in back. We prolly have close to a 20 ft run at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartshan-83 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Here is a dumb question but why are your vents so long? My vent that is hooked to the dryer is about 4-5 feet & goes right outside the house. I mean if your vents are 25 30 feet it is only a matter of time before stuff gets clogged up. Yeah, beats me. I just estimated my 12-15 feet thing because my vent comes up from the floor, appears to go down about 3-4 feet and then turns towards the outside of the house (another 8-10 feet I'd guess). We have a townhouse and that's just where the washer/dryer is. I was also surprised as most other houses I've lived in have had a setup directly on an exterior wall. I guess there was a construction/space reason... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Here is a dumb question but why are your vents so long? My vent that is hooked to the dryer is about 4-5 feet & goes right outside the house. I mean if your vents are 25 30 feet it is only a matter of time before stuff gets clogged up. With our it was our condo. The W/D was in the bathroom an inner room. The venting was ducted in the ceiling over our second bedroom and out. Probably 15-20 feet from the back of the dryer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Yeah mine is in a small room in the middle of the townhouse - on the second floor. I'd have rather seen them vent it out of the side of the unit but I can understand why they did it. The location is super convenient when doing laundry, but not the best spot for putting ductwork in to vent it out. I'll see if knocking the vacuum hose around does the trick tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Yeah mine is in a small room in the middle of the townhouse - on the second floor. I'd have rather seen them vent it out of the side of the unit but I can understand why they did it. The location is super convenient when doing laundry, but not the best spot for putting ductwork in to vent it out. I'll see if knocking the vacuum hose around does the trick tonight. Toss a lit match in there. That'll clean it out real good. (Disclaimer: for those stupid enough to actually think this is a good idea, it's really, really not. Don't do this.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Do any of you guys dryers have lint filters? You know the thing you pull out and clean every time you use the dryer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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