Dryer Vent Cleaning in Lindenhurst, NY
Tell us about your home, and a licensed contractor who covers Suffolk County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold air turns lint into a wall inside your vent
Your dryer pushes out warm, damp air every time it runs. From October through May, that air is moving through a vent sitting in cold space, and on a winter night averaging 26°F, it cools fast. The moisture in it has nowhere to go but the vent walls, and lint sticks to a damp surface far more than a dry one.
That buildup narrows the vent a little at a time. Air that should move outside backs up instead, and the moisture it was carrying stays in the vent or gets pushed back into the house.
- 26°F
- the average winter night, and cold vents catch damp lint
- 8 months
- October through May, the vent stays cold
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
- Once a year is the general rule, though how often you run the dryer and how long the duct run is will push that up or down. A vent that stays clear gives the dryer less resistance to push against, so it does not have to work as hard to push air outside.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can clean the lint trap and the first few feet behind the dryer yourself, and you should do that often. The rest of the run, especially where it bends or passes through a wall to the outside hood, is harder to reach and harder to check. A contractor has the rods and the camera to clear the full length and confirm the hood flap opens and closes the way it should.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes that take longer than one cycle to dry, or come out hot to the touch, are the clearest sign. You might also notice the outside of the dryer running hotter than usual, a burning smell, or the vent hood flap barely moving when the dryer runs. Lint collecting around the hood outside is another sign, since it means airflow has slowed enough to drop lint before it clears the duct.