Dryer Vent Cleaning in Montgomery, AL
Tell us about your home, and a licensed contractor who covers Montgomery County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Cold nights turn lint into a wall inside your vent
Your dryer pushes out warm, damp air every time it runs. Winter nights here average 38°F from December through February, and that cold reaches the vent running through your wall or attic. The warm air cools fast once it hits that cold metal, and the moisture in it beads up on the walls of the duct. Lint sticks to the wet spots instead of blowing outside, and the buildup narrows the vent a little more each time you run a load.
A narrowed vent keeps moist air from leaving the way it should. Cleaning it out opens the path back up so the air makes it outside again.
- 38°F
- the average winter night, and cold vents catch damp lint
- 5 months
- November through March, 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 the vent run is long with a few turns in it, clean it more often than that. Lint builds up inside the duct even when the lint trap looks clean, and a clogged vent makes the dryer work harder and takes longer to dry a load.
- Can I clean my dryer vent myself?
- You can clean the first few feet from the back of the dryer yourself, and that is worth doing between full cleanings. A vacuum with a hose attachment or a dryer vent brush kit reaches that section. The rest of the run, especially if it goes up through a wall or out through the roof, is hard to reach and hard to check without the right tools, so a full cleaning is best left to someone who does this for a living.
- What are the signs of a clogged dryer vent?
- Clothes that take longer than usual to dry, or come out hot to the touch instead of just warm, are the clearest sign. Others include a burning smell while the dryer runs, the outside vent hood barely pushing out air when you check it, and more lint than normal collecting around the lint trap or the dryer's edges. Any of these on their own is worth looking into, since a blocked vent traps heat and lint in the same place.