Seven Signs Your Dryer Vent Is Clogged

The vent on your dryer is designed to ensure that the heat produced by the dryer is effectively dispersed, away from the machine itself, to prevent it from overheating during operation. With this in mind, you can see why it is crucial to ensure that your dryer vent remains fully functional at all times. As dryer vent cleaning specialists in Arvada, the team at Steve's Air Duct Cleaning is well aware of the potential problems that a clogged vent can cause. As such, we have decided to share our knowledge in this blog post today, to help as many people as possible avoid damaging their expensive dryers in the future.

Having spent many years providing dryer duct cleaning and vent cleaning services to residents and businesses, there have been numerous occasions on which we have seen firsthand what can happen when dryer vents are neglected (occasions when we were called too late to save the machines in question). As industry experts, we also have an in-depth knowledge of the warning signs to look out for, signs that can help you avoid damage to your dryer as a result of a clogged vent. It is this knowledge that we would like to share with you today.

Reduced Performance

If your dryer seems to be taking longer to do its job than it used to, or perhaps not completing its job properly at all, this could be a sign that you should start searching for ‘dryer cleaning near me’ as soon as possible. With a partially clogged vent, your machine may still be able to function but it will almost certainly take longer to dry your laundry. In more extreme cases, it may fail to get anything fully dry, even after extended drying periods. If you notice a drop in performance of this nature, we recommend contacting your local dryer vent cleaning specialists without delay. If you are living in Arvada or the surrounding area, you are, of course, always very welcome to contact us for professional assistance.

Mold and Mildew Odors

The lint that collects in dryer vents that are not cleaned regularly is mostly comprised of cotton fibers, which absorb moisture very easily. When a vent becomes partially clogged due to an excess of lint, the individual fibers may no longer be able to fully dry out in between cycles. The result is a permanently soggy mass residing in the dryer vent, which makes a very inviting home for all manner of mold and mildew spores. Consequently, if you should detect a moldy smell close to your dryer, it would be a good idea for you to get in touch with a local vent cleaning company. Any firm that specializes in dryer duct cleaning and vent cleaning should be able to remedy the problem for you in a relatively short space of time.

Machine Is Unusually Hot

One of the more common signs of a blocked vent is a machine that starts to run very hot. If your dryer feels uncomfortably hot to the touch (hot enough that you are unable to leave your hand on it for more than a few seconds due to fear of being burned), you should have the vent cleaned at the earliest opportunity. Failure to address the issue could result in the breakdown of your machine due to overheating or, worse still, a fire in your utility room. If you are not sure how hot is too hot, please refer to the manufacturer’s handbook that came with your appliance or contact the retailer who sold it to you, to request clarification. If neither of these options proves to be helpful, you can try consulting the local cleaning experts instead: perform an online search for ‘air duct cleaning near me’ and call at least two of the companies that you find, to ask for their professional opinion. In the event they agree with your initial assessment, you can also ask them to quote a price for cleaning your dryer vent.

Burning Smell

A very obvious sign that it is time to seek professional assistance with your dryer vent is a burning smell when the dryer is operating. When too much lint is allowed to collect in a dryer vent, it may, as mentioned earlier, become a soggy mass that is a breeding ground for mold and mildew spores. However, there is another possibility: if the lint is still able to dry out fully in between cycles rather than becoming a soggy mass, it may well start to smolder when the machine is in use, or even catch on fire. If you should happen to detect a burning smell coming from your vent, the very first thing you need to do is to turn the dryer off. Once you have done this, we recommend contacting a local dryer vent cleaning team without delay. You should also look out for signs that the lint has caught on fire, such as smoke emanating from the vent. If you spot any such signs, you may wish to contact the emergency services too.

No Fibers in the Lint Trap

Dryers are fitted with special lint traps these days, which are designed to make it easy for you to remove excess lint at the end of each drying cycle. If you never see any lint in your trap, it may be a sign that the dryer vent is clogged, preventing any lint from making it through to this part of your machine. In this case, we recommend that you consider calling in a professional to take a look at the vent, especially if you notice one or more of the other warning signs in combination with this one. If you are not sure where the lint trap on your machine is located, please refer to the user manual or contact the manufacturer to ask for assistance.

Unexpected Shutdowns

All good domestic dryers are equipped with an emergency shutdown feature, which is designed to stop the machine from being seriously damaged if it starts to overheat. Once the internal temperature of your dryer reaches a predefined level, it should automatically shut down, preventing permanent damage to sensitive components as well as minimizing the chances of a fire breaking out. With this in mind, repeated unexpected shutdowns should be seen as a possible warning sign that your vent is clogged. As with all of the other signs we have already mentioned, if you notice too many unexpected shutdowns, the best course of action is to search for ‘dryer cleaning near me’ (or use one of the other phrases we mentioned earlier) and to then contact a couple of the companies that you find.

Larger Utility Bills

If your electricity bills start to get bigger and bigger, for no apparent reason, this could very well be because your dryer vent is clogged. An inefficient dryer will often use significantly more electricity to get the job done on each cycle, an amount that is quite plain for all to see when the next bill arrives. Of course, you should also check other possible causes, such as leaking air conditioner ducts or inefficient kitchen appliances, but in many such cases, the dryer turns out to be the main culprit. You may like to think about using some kind of energy monitoring software in your home, to help you spot trends such as increasing energy usage due to inefficient or malfunctioning appliances.

Need Dryer Vent Cleaning in Arvada? Call Steve's

If you would like to learn more about the most common warning signs of a blocked vent or you are looking for a company that performs dryer duct cleaning in Arvada and adjacent areas, please do not hesitate to call or message us at any time.