How to Clean A Dryer Vent

Dec 22, 2023

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Before winter sets in, get that dryer vent clean with a few simple steps.

Believe it or not, fall is the best time of year to clean your dryer vent. The reason for that is simple. The cooler temperature causes the moisture vapor in the air leaving your dryer to condense. This liquid moisture collects on the walls of the dryer vent, which lint then sticks to, impeding air flow. As the air flow continues to drop, more lint builds up, and the cycle builds upon itself, resulting in a clogged or partially clogged vent.

Winter only magnifies the problem of cold air infiltrating the dryer vent, increasing lint buildup. So head into winter with a clean vent and you’re a step ahead. Clear out the vent again in late spring to prepare for the high-humidity summer months.

There's another reason that fall is an ideal time to clean out your dryer vent: You’re likely already using a cordless (or corded) leaf blower every weekend to keep leaves off your lawn and out of your flower beds. Turns out it's a good tool for the first stage in maintaining a dryer vent.

Below we list some of the best vent-cleaning tools. Then we outline the process and includes some tips to ensure that you get that vent good and clean.

The specifics and complexity of cleaning your dryer vent depend on the vent's length and how many bends there are in it. The shorter the vent, the easier it is to clean. Whether your dryer is gas or electric, unplug and slide it away from the wall so that you have access behind it. For gas dryers, only slide it far enough from the wall so that you don't strain the flexible gas line.

You can clean most dryers installed in houses with a basic kit. Dryers installed in condominiums and townhouses tend to have longer dryer vents in order to find a point on the exterior wall where the vent exits. You may need a more advanced kit or extension rods to handle these longer vent runs.

1 Detach any flexible louvers or bird guards from the vent terminal outside the house. If the terminal has a hinged lid, use a spring clamp to hold it open. If you find lint build up on this, remove it, and if there is a slightly oily residue left behind from fabric softener, wash the guard clean.

2 Detach the flexible connector that leads from the back of the dryer to the vent terminal on the inside of the house. You’ll clean this part of the vent separately. Once it's disconnected from the dryer, use a shop vacuum to clean out the point on the dryer where the connector attaches to it. Also note that flexible connectors are used only to join the dryer to the rigid dryer vent. If this flexible connector is used for the entire dryer vent, replace it with a rigid piece of dryer vent. If the flexible connector is dented or torn, replace it.

3 For long dryer vent runs (between 3 and 30 feet), place the nozzle of the leaf blower into the vent terminal and turn it on. Have a helper check the outside of the house. For a dryer vent with typical lint build up, a large wad of lint will come flying out of the exterior vent terminal, followed by several smaller clumps and some dust.

4 Remove the leaf blower from the vent terminal, put a cleaning brush on the end of a length of cleaning rod, and insert the brush and rod into the vent, push it forward and thread on the next length of rod.

5 Use the rod and brush by hand or power it with a cordless drill. But use the drill only in forward, not reverse. Running the drill in reverse can either twist the brush off the end of the rod (for brushes that thread on without set screws) or cause pieces of the rod to disconnect and get stuck in the dryer vent.

6 Secure the two pieces of dryer cleaning rod with a piece of electrical tape wrapped around the threaded couplings. (Leaving a small tab of tape will help you remove it when you’re finished with the job.) The tape serves as insurance, in case you accidentally run the drill in reverse. It makes it less likely that you will twist loose the pieces of rod while they are inside the vent.

Feed each length of rod into the vent and connect the next piece of rod in the same manner. You should connect enough lengths of rod so that the cleaning brush will emerge from the vent terminal on the outside of the house.

Scrub back and forth with each section of rod, being sure to loosen any lint clinging to the vent wall. For short dryer vents (several feet), you can connect the cordless drill once the rod lengths are connected and spin the vent clean, pushing and pulling the rod.

For long lengths of vent (from several to 20 feet, say), you may find it easier to scrub the rod back and forth and connect the drill only once the final section of rod has been connected and taped. Then spin the drill forward (at low rpm) while slowly backing the lengths of rod out of the vent.

Some people make use of the vacuum fitting that comes with the dryer cleaning kit. This fitting snaps over the vent terminal and allows you to hook up a shop vacuum simultaneously while scrubbing the vent clean. The vacuum hose attaches to the larger hole on the fitting while you run the cleaning rod through the smaller hole. I’m an agnostic on the method. I find that I can get my 20-foot-long vent perfectly clean without using a shop vacuum. However, if you have a vent with lots of twists and turns, it may work for you.

7 After scrubbing the vent clean, blow it once more with the leaf blower. Nothing but a strong stream of air should emerge from the vent outlet on the outside of the house.

Both gas and electric dryers have a lint screen. For dryers with a slide-out lint screen, pull the screen and run the lint brush into the screen cavity, then use the shop vacuum to pull any loose lint out. For dryers with a screen that's screwed to the dryer body, remove the sheet metal screw, pivot the screen out, then brush and vacuum the cavity below.

Run a length of rod and the brush through the flexible dryer vent hookup, then reconnect the hookup at the wall and at the dryer. Plug the dryer back in, and reinstall all parts you removed. Test run the dryer to ensure that a steady stream of clean air emerges from it.

Roy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment. When he's not working on his own house, he volunteers with Sovereign Grace Church doing home repair for families in rural, suburban and urban locations throughout central and southern New Jersey.

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