While this may not make any sense now, read on and you'll quickly understand how much money you are losing with a less than efficient clothes dryer.
A clothes dryer, running the way it is supposed to, should be able to dry a load of laundry in one cycle. It should be able to dry and fluff your clothes, removing lint as it goes. The average cost of doing a load is about $.75 in a regular dryer.
But then things can slow down. During drying cycles, as lint leaves the drum where your clothes are, the lint gets trapped a number of places in your dryer vent system. The first place this lint will usually get caught is your lint trap. You should make it a habit to clean out the lint trap before each load of laundry as the more lint that is in the trap, the less hot air can move through the system. Improper ventilation causes overheating in the system which results in higher energy consumption and it can be a fire hazard.
Even if you do clean out the lint trap, there are other places lint builds up to cause trouble. Lint can sneak around and past the trap and get into other parts of the dryer mechanism. From getting clogged in the frame of the dryer to getting stuck in the chute or even blocking the vent that takes the hot air outside of your house, there are plenty of ways the lint can cause a problem.
The more this lint accumulates, the less efficient your clothes dryer will be. Eventually it may take 2 to 3 cycles to get one load of clothing dry. You have now tripled or quadrupled the cost of your drying bill.
So, how do you keep your costs down? By making sure your dryer is in good working order. This means having a professional dryer vent cleaning done at least once a year. A professional will come in and clean the inside of the machine and with the use of special tools clean out the ducts and the vent at the end of the line. A properly maintained dryer vent system will help the dryer to operate efficiently to save money on monthly utility bills.
This article was written by Gary Collins, owner of Dryer Vent Wizard of Greater Cleveland. DVW specializes in dryer vent cleaning, maintenance, repair and alterations, while educating consumers on preventing clothes dryer fires. services Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Elyria, Lorain, Warren, Youngstown, Cuyahoga County, Lorain County, Summit County, Medina County, Geauga County, Portage County, Lake County and neighboring communities.
