Dryer Vent Cleaning in Lewistown, MT
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It takes about a minute.
Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold turns the lint in your vent to paste
Your dryer pushes out warm, damp air every time it runs. Once that air hits the cold metal of the vent, it cools fast, and the moisture in it has nowhere to go. Lint sticks to a damp wall a lot better than it does to a dry one, and Lewistown winters give it plenty of chances to be damp. Nights average 14°F from December through February, and the vent runs cold most of that time.
A vent that fills with lint stops moving air the way it should. The dryer takes longer to dry a load, the exhaust has to fight its way out, and the heat and moisture it carries can end up staying in the house instead.
- 14°F
- the average winter night, and cold vents catch damp lint
- 10 months
- September through June, the vent stays cold
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
- Once a year is the standard most contractors work from. Lint builds up along the whole length of the duct, not just at the trap, and a vent choked with it forces the dryer to run longer and hotter to get clothes dry. If you notice drying times creeping up before the year is out, that's a sign to have it checked sooner.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can clean the first few feet behind the dryer yourself with a vent brush kit, and that's worth doing between full cleanings. Most vent runs bend, drop through walls, or travel a good distance to the outside, and lint collects at every turn. A shop vac or a brush pushed in from the outside hood usually can't reach the middle of the run, which is exactly where clogs tend to sit.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes coming out hot but still damp after a full cycle is the clearest sign. Others include the dryer or its door running hotter than usual, a burning smell, the outside vent hood flap barely moving or not opening when the dryer runs, and lint gathering around the dryer or around the vent opening outside. Any one of these means air isn't moving through the duct the way it should.