Dryer Vent Cleaning in Yonkers, NY
Tell us about your home, and a licensed contractor who covers Westchester County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold vents catch more lint
Your dryer pushes out warm, damp air, and that air has to travel through a vent that runs through a cold house before it reaches outside. From December through February, when nights average 24°F, the vent itself stays cold. The warm exhaust cools fast against those walls, and the moisture that comes out of it gives the lint something to stick to instead of blowing through.
Over a season that buildup narrows the path the air has to take. A vent that is choked with lint makes the dryer run longer to dry the same load, and it leaves warm, damp air with nowhere to go but back into the house.
- 24°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 for most households. If you run large loads often, or you have a long vent run to the outside, check it more than once a year. The vent moves damp, lint-heavy air, and lint builds up on the inside walls of the duct even when the lint trap is clean.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can clean the part you can reach, but that is usually not the whole vent. Pull the dryer out, disconnect the flexible hose behind it, and clear lint from the hose and the first few feet of duct. The rest of the run, especially if it goes up through a wall or across a long stretch to the outside vent hood, needs a rod and brush system built for the length. A contractor can run a brush the full length and check that the vent hood flap outside opens and closes the way it should.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes take longer than one cycle to dry, or come out still damp at the end of a normal cycle. The dryer itself may feel hot to the touch on top, or the room heats up while it runs. You might notice less airflow at the outside vent hood when the dryer is on, or lint collecting around the hood flap instead of blowing clear. Any of these means air is not moving through the vent the way it should.