Clean your gas dryer! Now!!

[bmyers]

I was not "In Search of" an indoor project to keep me busy through the winter season, instead it found me. Our gas dryer has been slowly taking longer and longer to dry clothes over the past few months. Finally it took slow long I was sequestered to the basement to resolve the issue.

The dryer is almost 20 yrs old. It blew out air from the vent, it got warm, it spun around BUT it would take a really long time to dry clothes. We started by cleaning the vent tube in the basement and flapper on the outside of the house. Thats a good thing to do (yearly) but it didn't really seem to do the trick. It was time for some “deep cleaning”.

Before doing anything..
DISCONNECT THE POWER FROM THE DRYER
DONT DAMAGE THE GASLINE WHILE MOVING THE DRYER

I removed the front kick panel from the dryer to reveal it's inner workings. There were no screws holding it on, it just snapped on there. Once you see how exactly things get done down there I'm sure you will agree, this is no place for free range dust bunnies. If you've ever seen those salamander gas space heaters, that is basically whats going on underneath the drum to heat the air and send it through your wet clothes.

In my dryer the is only the one motor to turn the drum and circulate the air from the heater, through the drum and out the vent. There is nothing to stop innocent dust bunnies from being sucked up into the flame and sent through the system. Bunnies resemble TINDER in many ways. They are dry, burn real easy and stay smoldering.

My model has the lint trap is just inside the door on the bottom. It slides into a removable duct piece that covers the squirrel cage to channel the air. The cage then moves out the back (or side) or the dryer and out the vent. This should be taken apart sufficiently to be able to clean all the dust out. There was no one blockage but many partially blocked elbows and crannies to get cleaned up. Also vacuum the heater cone as there is rust and dirt that will settle there too. While you're at it, have a look at the drive belt while you're down there.

This is a general overview, YMMV. There are many good FAQS and how-to's out there that might be specific to your brand and model for better clarity. I won't take the fun out of google'n this stuff yourself to find it. I will however give you this link:
http://www.dryerbox.com/dryer_fire_articles.htm

I know I'll sleep a little better tonight knowing that I've done this maintenance. Next project is a smoke alarm for the basement..

Bill

[BobSch]

That link's got some truly frightening stories. Looks like I know what I'll be doing tonight!

Thanks for the heads-up, Bill.

[drillman88]

When we moved into our current home, it smelled strongly of fabric softner, but I didnt really think much of it.I hooked up our dryer and it took twice as long to dry clothes compared to our previous house. I unhooked the 20' long vent tube and it was almost completly clogged It may have had 1" open in the center, there was way too much build up.That was enough to have me clean it annually as the house was only 7 years old when we moved in.

[jhart]

Just went through that with my appliance repair guy at one of my rental apartments. Tenant said the dryer not drying very fast. checked the vent hose and that was basically clean, so took off the back and went through what Bill did. Lots of blockage in the vent holes. Used a shop vac and screw driver and cleaned it out. Seems to be working better now. Dryer is about 4 years old, but gets a fair amount of use in a Tri plex.

[os1kne]

I replaced my dying old dryer with a new high-efficiency model last year. Now, about every other week my wife tells me to clean the lint screen (the thing on the outside of the house that keeps the birds, etc. out of the dryer vent). If it goes much more than 2 weeks, she can tell the difference in the amount of time that it takes to dry a load.