Dryer Vent Cleaning
The most dangerous duct in your house is the one nobody thinks about. Lint burns easily, it builds up where you can't see it, and it builds up fast.
We also run bbdryervents.com. Same crew, same trucks, same standards.
Signs it's overdue
- Clothes take more than one cycle to dry
- The dryer is hot to the touch while it runs
- A burning smell during a cycle
- The laundry room gets warm or humid
- Lint showing up around the door seal
- It's been more than a year
You clean the lint trap. That's not the problem.
Everybody empties the lint screen. But the screen only catches part of what comes off your clothes. The rest goes into the duct behind the dryer, and every load adds a little more to the run between your laundry room and the outside wall or the roof.
As the duct closes up, the dryer has to run longer and hotter to do the same job. That's what's behind almost every symptom people notice: clothes still damp after a full cycle, a machine that's hot to the touch, a laundry room that feels like a sauna.
It's also what's behind dryer fires. A heating element, restricted airflow and a duct packed with one of the most flammable materials in the house is a bad combination. The US Fire Administration counts thousands of home dryer fires a year, and failure to clean is consistently the leading cause.
What we do on a dryer vent visit
Pull the dryer and look
The dryer comes out from the wall so we can see the transition duct, the connection and what shape the run behind it is in.
Rotary brush the whole run
A rotary brush on flexible rods driven through the entire duct, wall to termination, not just as far as an arm reaches from either end.
Vacuum as we go
A high-powered vacuum catches the lint as it comes loose, so it ends up in our machine instead of on your laundry room floor.
Clear the termination
We clear the exterior hood or roof cap and check the damper, so it opens with the airflow and closes against weather and animals.
Check the transition duct
If the hose behind the dryer is foil, plastic or crushed, we'll tell you, and we can swap it for the correct rigid or semi-rigid metal.
Test and put it back
We run the dryer, confirm the airflow at the outside vent, and set the machine back with the duct routed so it isn't crushed against the wall.
Dryer vents, answered
How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
Once a year for most households. Big families, long or rooftop runs, and homes where the dryer runs most days should think about more often. If drying times have crept up, that's your signal no matter what the calendar says.
Can I clean it myself with a kit?
On a short, straight run through an exterior wall, a store-bought kit will get some of it. On a long run, several elbows or a roof termination, they usually don't reach and can't capture what they knock loose. There's also a real chance of pulling a joint apart inside a wall without knowing you did it.
My dryer is new. Do I still need this?
A new dryer tells you nothing about the duct, which is usually original to the house and shared by every dryer that's ever been hooked up there. Newer machines also sense airflow more closely, so a restricted vent shows up as poor performance sooner.
Do you clean vents in townhomes and condos?
Yes, and those are often the ones that need it most, thanks to long vertical runs and rooftop terminations. We work with individual owners and with management companies on multi-unit buildings.
Can you do this at the same time as the chimney?
Yes, and that's how most of our customers handle it. One visit, one call, and it costs less than booking the two separately. See chimney cleaning.
What if the duct is damaged or installed wrong?
We'll show you and price the fix. The usual finds are foil transition hose, ducts dumping into a crawl space or attic instead of outside, and screws through the duct wall that snag lint on every pass.
Serving Chester County and the surrounding townships
We're based in Chester County and cover the boroughs, the townships and the rural stretches in between. Pick your town below, or just call and we'll tell you right away whether you're on our route.
Add the dryer vent to your next chimney visit
One call handles both, anywhere in Chester County.