How often do you clean out your dryer vent? For most people, the answer is “not often enough.” Unfortunately, if you let lint build up in the duct, you increase the risk of fire. Fortunately, cleaning it out is easy.
While you could go out and buy a dryer vent brush and use that to clean lint out of the duct, there’s a much easier way… If you have a yard blower, simply detach the dryer from the vent and direct the blower into the duct.
Before doing this, of course, you’ll want to remove any sort of screen that you might have on the outside end of the duct. You’ll also want to dial the blower way back to the lowest setting so you don’t damage the duct.
When I’ve done this, I’ve actually “fanned” the blower back and forth across opening rather than leaving it in one place. Here again, my goal has been to prevent damage, and it’s worked admirably.
If you have a gas blower, you’ll want to open a window and work quickly. With an electric blower, you can take your time if you wish. Either way, it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to clear the duct.
Try it out sometime, it works amazingly well.
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