Dryer Vent Cleaning: What You Need to Know in Order to Prevent Fires

Posted: Mar 15, 2019
Author: AdvantaClean of West Knoxville

No one likes to think their home might be vulnerable to a house fire. Even though most housing codes have been updated and altered in order to ensure more safety, there are still common things that cause house fires every year-- and one of the most common is excessive accumulation of lint in your dryer vent. Lint is an excellent fire starter. In fact, it starts fires so well that scouting troops teach children that lint and paraffin wax make great kindling options. In order to prevent a house fire, you need to do regular and proper dryer vent cleanings.

Dryer vent cleaning isn’t a difficult process. The first thing that we’ll do for a successful dryer vent cleaning is remove the lint trap and vacuum the lint out of the ventilation area around the lint trap. Sometimes this lint can be sticky or hard to vacuum, but a narrow, long and stiff bristle brush can help wiggle it free.

Once we’ve completed the area around the lint trap, we’ll check the exhaust. This is commonly where the most lint accumulates, especially if you have your dryer vent hooked up to a flexible hose. These hoses make your dryer easy to install, but the accordion folds make perfect areas for lint to get trapped. Consider replacing your flexible venting with solid, smooth walled options. Additionally, we’ll use a stiff bristle brush with a very long handle to scrape the excess lint away from the sides of your tubing.

If you want to feel confident in your dryer vent cleaning, call on our professionals to take care of it for you at AdvantaClean of West Knoxville.