How to Clean Out Your Clothes Dryer Exhaust Hose and Duct

Clean your clothes dryer, exhaust hose and duct.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pliers or channel locks
• Screwdriver
• Leaf blower
• Vacuum cleaner

1. 
    
   Lint trap.

   Once a year you should clean out your clothes dryer, lint trap and duct work. This should be done for safety reasons and dryer efficiency. First thing first clean the lint trap. Then remove the lint trap and use the leaf blower to blow down into the cavity where the lint trap was. This may make a little mess inside the house That is where you can use the vacuum cleaner to clean up.

2. 
    
   Leaf blower.

   Remove the exhaust hose from the back of the dryer using the tools listed above. Stick the Nozzle of the leaf blower into the end of your dryer exhaust hose and wrap a towel around the exhaust hose and the leaf blower to get a good seal.

3. 
    
   Exterior dryer exhaust port.

   Turn on the leaf blower on and hold it there for about 1 to 2 minutes. This will force out any lint and dirt outside the house thru the duct. Turn off leaf blower and remove towel and blower. Reinstall exhaust hose to the rear of dryer. Now, go outside and clean away any big pieces of lint and dirt from the exhaust diffuser and you are done. Turn on the dryer to blow anything else out that might be in there.

Tips & Warnings

• Dryer lint can cause fires if left to long without cleaning.
• This should be done once a year.
• Be careful dryer duct work can be sharp.
• If you have the white vinyl exhaust hose you should replace it with a new metal exhaust hose for safety reasons. They stopped selling the vinyl type years ago for fire reasons.