Photo: Benjamin Clapp (Shutterstock)
You should be cleaning your dryer vent about once a year, and while it can be a slightly inconvenient task, it’s important to know that the much-touted “hack” of clearing lint out with a leaf blower is a bad idea. In addition to not being very effective for a few reasons, using traditional cleaning methods on your dryer vent isn’t challenging, there are potential hazards you can cause by using a leaf blower in place of the proper equipment.
You might have seen a video of someone performing an amazingly fast dryer vent blow-out with a leaf blower, but the trick only works if you have a smooth-sided, straight vent with no screens so that there are no obstructions for the lint and debris moving through the vent. This is a rare set-up, though, so it’s not something everyone should attempt.
If your vent has any screens, rough sides, bends, or other obstructions, it can cause lint to be packed into a dense plug in the vent. Jamming the lint in like that will obstruct airflow and can lead to bigger problems. The kits that are made for the purpose of clearing your dryer vents won’t cause this problem and only cost between about $15 and $20 from a hardware store. These will come with brushes that will loosen up lint that’s stuck in crevices and bends in the vent, rather than impacting them further, similar to the way a chiminea brush works.
If you end up with a compacted plug of lint and other debris in your dryer vent, it can cause problems for your dryer including overheating and stress on the fan that blows the air out through the vent. It might also trap moisture and cause some musty smell, as well as potentially taking longer to dry your clothes. While many dryers have sensors that will cause them to shut off if the vent is obstructed, that is its own problem if you’re trying to dry your clothes. You could also overheat and potentially cause damage to the dryer. Overheating can also cause clothing to get singed or synthetic fabrics to melt.
The worst case scenario is that you could overheat either your dryer or your vent and cause a fire. In addition to trapping hot air inside the dryer, a densely packed clod of lint is very flammable. If there is a fire, excess lint in the vent can act as fuel, causing the fire to spread through the vent and potentially into your structure as well as endangering any nearby plants. To prevent a dryer fire, the best way to clean your vents is with a brush designed to do just that. You can also get kits that are made to be attached to most vacuum cleaners and can make cleaning out longer vents or those with twists and turns a little easier. If you must use a leaf blower, do yourself a favor and use a vent scope camera, which costs around $40, to make sure the job is done and there are no blockages inside the system.
