Have you had a dryer vent cleaned? F/U after cleaning

[mrsd2006]

Just wondering what the ball park cost was. I have the Dryer Vent Wizard coming out next week, at a minimum it's going to be around $200. But they don't give you a quote until they get there, so I want to be prepared. 

TIA!

Followup: It ended up costing $342 for the inspection, cleaning and replacement of the entire vent to the outside and new cover. The vent to the outside literally didn't even go through the concrete brick wall in my basement, it ended at the wall on the inside and there was an old metal can in the hole that was cut through the concrete brick wall to the outside (my house was built in 1954). The technician couldn't believe it. 

I usually use the same setting on the dryer and it's gone from drying from 40-50 minutes to 20-30 minutes. The technician said that for only two people, we only needed to have it cleaned every other year. 

Hope this helps someone! 

[VillainV]

No, but I did see an infomercial for the Lint Lizard, which is an attachment for your vacuum that snakes into your dryer and your vent. It’s$14.99, so that might be a good start.

[sunnysally]

Ours was free with a $150 duct cleaning. I also have the lint lizard and like it but still do the professional dryer vent cleaning every few years.

[readyin07]

Mar 15, 2019 11:21:28 GMT -5 VillainV said:

No, but I did see an infomercial for the Lint Lizard, which is an attachment for your vacuum that snakes into your dryer and your vent. It’s$14.99, so that might be a good start.

I need to find this in store. Mine needs doing badly

[cleo29]

No. We have a cleaning set you attach to a drill that works quite well.

[cleo29]

www.lowes.com/pd/linteater-dryer-vent-lint-removal-kit-white/50371152?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-rpe-_-google-_-lia-_-171-_-ductworkandventing-_-50371152-_-0&kpid&store_code=715&k_clickID=go_625853472_43095379173_200000645985_pla-323061816227_c_9008123&gclid=CjwKCAjwmq3kBRB_EiwAJkNDp7VFCb49JbWLtPeuiPBqACvbjlgyj0_oTTqySU1QftkDBG7GH1W64hoCaC0QAvD_BwE

[knx9211]

I don’t remember how much it cost but we had the same company come out and the guy was GREAT. Noted our builder didn’t make our god damn vent to code, fixed it all, replaced parts, and it was barely more than it would have been to clean it. And our dryer no longer takes 2.5 hours to dry towels.

[dancelnow]

For going all the way to the roof vent, I think it was $150-200. Way different than just the vent genie. Now if you're lucky and your dryer vents straight out the wall, go ahead and do it yourself. But if it's roof, it's worth the cost. They go from both top down and bottom up to ensure they get it all.

[egishere]

I want to say it was like $65. It really didn't help-my dryer was just old and I was hoping that cleaning the vent would help but it didn't.

[icedcoffee]

The first time I had it done it was like $70 for a dryer and duct cleaning. It was a total rip off and I knew that going into it. Basically, if you want a GOOD duct cleaning it's going to run you several hundred dollars. You very much get what you pay for with these services.

Subsequent vent cleanings have been done by me and my dad. If you dryer vents to the outside wall there's not much to do. Disconnect, vacuum from both sides, reconnect. It's when the vent is further away that it gets tricky.

I think $200 sounds reasonable for a GOOD cleaning company.

I need to do this again. Thanks for the reminder. My dog sheds so much I bet there's quite the furball back there.

[dirtyred]

We did it ourselves.  Our dryer vent was 30 feet long and it only took about two hours, including taking the vent piping down and putting it back up.

Later my DH rerouted the vent so it's only about 8 feet long.  Who the hell puts in a 30 foot dryer vent when it doesn't have to be that long?

[UMaineTeach]

I didn’t know until this moment that professional dryer vent cleaning was a thing.

I would expect furnace vent cleaning to be a few hundred. I think dryer vent alone would be not more than 60, unless your vent is very long or goes through a ceiling. An apartment we lived it had the vent running out an inside wall, over the garage ceiling and out. It sucked and collected condensation. Nothing dried.

Ours is definitely a diy situation now. Short run, easy access to both ends, can see both ends at the same time, hardly have to move appliances.

[mrsd2006]

Mar 15, 2019 12:27:04 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

The first time I had it done it was like $70 for a dryer and duct cleaning. It was a total rip off and I knew that going into it. Basically, if you want a GOOD duct cleaning it's going to run you several hundred dollars. You very much get what you pay for with these services.

Subsequent vent cleanings have been done by me and my dad. If you dryer vents to the outside wall there's not much to do. Disconnect, vacuum from both sides, reconnect. It's when the vent is further away that it gets tricky.

I think $200 sounds reasonable for a GOOD cleaning company.

I need to do this again. Thanks for the reminder. My dog sheds so much I bet there's quite the furball back there.

The company is pretty highly recommended on my NextDoor page. 

I'm pretty sure it's mostly dog hair in mine too. It's shocking how much comes out of the washer.  

[msmerymac]

We just use a shopvac to vacuum the outside and the regular vacuum to do the inside. The dryer is in our basement and it just vents to the outside. Cost: free.

[gummybear]

Yes, ours in long and goes under the kitchen. It was $90

[jmc325]

I never knew this was a thing. How often should it be cleaned?

[dale]

I have mine done yearly for $200. Mine goes through the roof from the main level so it's not something I can do myself.

[justemily]

My condo association requires us to do it every 2 years, and I think I paid $80 last time?

[mrsd2006]

Mar 15, 2019 13:51:23 GMT -5 jmc325 said:

I never knew this was a thing. How often should it be cleaned?

This says once a year. 

www.consumerreports.org/clothes-dryer/how-to-prevent-dryer-fires/


Every year, firefighters across the country respond to around 14,630 home fires caused by clothes dryers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.




One-third of these fires is caused by an accumulation of lint, which means that not cleaning out your dryer vent can set you up for a dangerous situation that's far more serious than the drop in performance caused by constricting a dryer's ductwork.

[isabel]

I feel like we paid $400 to clean all the air ducts and the dryer vent. The dryer vent was under $100 to add on, but it was literally straight through the wall to the outside of the house, so certainly not complicated.

[simpsongal]

Mar 15, 2019 11:48:17 GMT -5 knx9211 said:

I don’t remember how much it cost but we had the same company come out and the guy was GREAT. Noted our builder didn’t make our god damn vent to code, fixed it all, replaced parts, and it was barely more than it would have been to clean it. And our dryer no longer takes 2.5 hours to dry towels.

this is so common and a good reason to get it done. Ours was so jacked- the cleaner said he had never seen anything like it before. Make sure you have a bird shield too. We get nesting birds in ours otherwise.

[chimera]

Last house I did myself - the dryer was on an outside wall the vent was just the flexible hose connection secured to the vent on the wall. Took about 15 minutes including moving the dryer out and finding all the attachments for the vacuum.

Current house - I did the flexi part to where it connects under the floor to go out when we moved in this Fall. The solid metal duct is on the list for spring once the big shop vac is finally moved from old house. Figure it’s going to take a bit longer

[wildfloweragain]

Mar 15, 2019 14:22:53 GMT -5 mrsd2006 said:

Mar 15, 2019 13:51:23 GMT -5 jmc325 said:

I never knew this was a thing. How often should it be cleaned?

This says once a year. 

www.consumerreports.org/clothes-dryer/how-to-prevent-dryer-fires/


Every year, firefighters across the country respond to around 14,630 home fires caused by clothes dryers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.




One-third of these fires is caused by an accumulation of lint, which means that not cleaning out your dryer vent can set you up for a dangerous situation that's far more serious than the drop in performance caused by constricting a dryer's ductwork.Can confirm. Husband is a firefighter.  Besides getting it cleaned once a year, never leave your house with the dryer on.  This is the one time-saving thing I'd love to do that I will not because dryer fires are common and it's not worth it. It's as bad or worse than leaving your oven on.  Also:  bathroom fans. Don't leave them on when you leave the house!

[ohgillian]

Yes, and it cut the drying time of my cloth diapers from 2 hours to just over an hour. It was crazy.

I’ve paid amounts ranging from $65 - $120.

[TR]

Only tangentially related, but my senior year of college I lived in an apartment where not once, but twice, a bird flew into my dryer vent, traveled through to where it connected to the dryer and busted out, ending up flying/flapping around my laundry room and then apartment.

After the second time, i kept smelling something gross and thought the bird had pooped on top of the dryer (stacked set) or in the duct. So my dad took the dryer apart and we discovered not all those who entered had made it out. It was gross.

[minzy]

My father made a vent cleaner out of long piece of somewhat bendable wire with a small hook on one end and what looks like a kitchen scrub brush on the other (about the size of the tube). If you’re handy and know the length of your pipe, it doesn’t seem that hard or expensive. I had him bring it to my current house not that long ago and we saved $75 over the local going price since we did it ourselves.

[janegold]

Mar 15, 2019 11:21:28 GMT -5 VillainV said:

No, but I did see an infomercial for the Lint Lizard, which is an attachment for your vacuum that snakes into your dryer and your vent. It’s$14.99, so that might be a good start.

So funny to click in here and see this thread,b/c I just saw an ad for this on Facebook this morning and ordered it!  But I paid $23   Oh well.  I'm excited to get it, the lint in the deep down parts of the dryer have been bothering and worrying me for ages.

[suzyp]

Mar 15, 2019 11:48:17 GMT -5 knx9211 said:

I don’t remember how much it cost but we had the same company come out and the guy was GREAT. Noted our builder didn’t make our god damn vent to code, fixed it all, replaced parts, and it was barely more than it would have been to clean it. And our dryer no longer takes 2.5 hours to dry towels.

Same person must have built our house.  Apparently over two prior owners over 8 years thought it was normal for a load of clothes to take over 2 hours to dry.  It came up on the house inspection that it was not the right vent for Code, but it didn't seem like it was a big deal.  First thing we did was change it after I was about to murder someone when I did laundry for the first time.

OP - I think we paid $300.  Our dryer is on the top floor and the vent goes through the attic and out the roof, so it's a bit more complicated.

[mrsjuleshs]

My dryer vent goes all the way to the back of the house, on the roof. My ex used to take the shop vac up on the roof and vacuum it out from the top after getting as much out from the bottom.

[revolution]

We had ours cleaned a few months ago. We had just moved in, bought a brand new dryer, and it was throwing codes that it was clogged and taking FOREVER to dry. I was so annoyed. Then it dawned on me the vent might need to be cleaned. The guys came, turns out there was a birds nest in it, it wasn't up to code, and there was a hole in the vent. SOOOOOOOO..... working now to get someone here to put a new vent in that is up to code and has no hole. The dryer vent cleaner guys only charged me $25 to remove the bird nest. They felt bad they couldn't fix it for me.