23 May How Important is Dryer Vent Cleaning?
How Important is Dryer Vent Cleaning?
I’ll be blunt, dryer vent cleaning is very important. Fire caused by dryer vent buildup is one of the leading causes of home fires in the United States. Most fires caused by lint buildup are in residential buildings. To understand the problem, let’s explore a few things about dryers and the dangers of lint buildup. Lint is a very flammable, and has a flash point that is lower than paper. So when lint starts to backup and gets close to the motor inside the dryer, danger is right around the corner. So given how flammable lint is, you would think that the building industry is working towards making things easier, right? Well yes and no. Newer homes are being built with convenience in mind, and that means that dryers are being located in all areas of the home, with dryer vent ducting becoming longer than in homes of the past. Sometimes dryer vents are over 30 feet long. As lint moves through the ducting, it can lose speed, and thus has more of a chance at becoming built up in the dryer vent pipe. This makes having your dryer vent professionally cleaned at least once a year even more important.