Think no lint is going to your dryer vent even though you clean your lint filter? Think again.
A broken lint duct screen/duct assembly, no longer made by Maytag nor available in the aftermarket, meant we needed a whole new dryer, despite the dryer otherwise still working.
We live in a new build house, and it’s been 19 years since we installed our old Maytag.
We always cleaned the lint filter after every dry cycle, therefore we never considered getting our dryer vent cleaned.
But, with a new dryer on the way, only now did we consider getting the tube cleaned out for the heck of it.
I ordered a 30-foot DIY vent cleaner kit from Amazon (Holikme brand if you’re interested) and, the day before our new dryer arrived, we cleaned out our vent tube.
Thankfully, our vent tube runs straight up to the roof, no bends, so we had that going for us.
The only new advice I can give when cleaning out your own vent tube is to go slow. Perhaps only squeeze your hand drill enough to get it spinning, and, in my experience, you definitely don’t ever need to spin it past a half squeeze.
I was using a very old, cheap-o $20 Harbor Freight battery drill; whatever newer drill you have should do just fine.
Small handfuls of lint came out, expected, but halfway up, most of the lint we collected started falling out in massive clumps.
All in all, this is how much came out, enough to fill 3/4s of a regular plastic grocery bag.
I could stick my whole index finger down the center of the pile.
So, if you’re wondering if lint is making it up into the dryer vent tube despite you cleaning the lint filter religiously, the answer is yes.
I don’t know how much longer we could’ve gone without cleaning our vent tube before we noticed, or, God forbid, the lint caught fire, but probably it could’ve been a couple more years.
Regardless, I now have peace of mind that our vent tube is clean.