Snow & Dryer Vents

Hello everyone! As we are in the middle of winter, we figured that it was a great time to cover some things related to snow. Today, we will deal specifically with dryer vents, which can become quite the major hazard when blocked or frozen over with snow. We will also deal with other dryer-related incidents that occur rather frequently.

Dryer vents are only a serious & imminent hazard when blocked if you have a gas dryer, as this is when CO builds up to dangerous levels in your home (see our previous blog post for more info about CO detectors!). Any dryer can also cause issues with fires when the vent is blocked, but we we explore issues specific to gas dryers in this post. When the vent freezes over, or a snow drift blocks the air from escaping, CO will be trapped inside your home, which is one of the many reasons we recommend that a CO detector be placed close to this specific location to provide early warning if your vent is blocked. There are several signs that you can look for prior to it reaching the point that the detector will be set off, however:

-Increased dryer time. If you notice your dryer taking longer than usual to dry your clothes

-Your clothes feel hot to the touch

-Lint blowing out into your room, or lint settling on your clean clothes.

-Lint settling on the inside and the dryer’s back panel.

If you notice any of these things happening, you may want to take a trip outside to ensure that your vent is functioning properly. If it isn’t we have some tips to help remedy your issue:

-Shoveling around this area first when you go outside to dig out after a storm is of utmost importance.

-The vent may look like it is not blocked, however, make sure to inspect it closely, as it has the tendency to freeze over, which produces the same effect as blockage from snow.

-You should have your vents serviced regularly, and contact a trained technician in the event of a freeze-over to have it serviced

We hope that this post has been helpful, look out for more soon!