Dryer vent advice

[codeman671]

We just had electric and plumbing done in our new/old camp to set up a washer and dryer. The dryer is not on an outside wall. Need to set up venting.
Best choice is to go down through the floor, but I don’t think I want it just dumping directly under the camp. Having all that moisture and heat dumping under the house can’t be good for it. Probably going to have to run it out to the side of the house. What have others done? It has to be pest proof of course.

[upthesaukee]

My dryer is not on an outside wall. The dryer vent goes to a galvanized vent pipe through the floor and then a section of pipe goes over to the outside wall of our crawl space where it connects to a shuttered vent. 25-30 years, no problems. We clean the vent pipe every once in a while.

Dave

[8gv]

Yup, what he said.

[ishoot308]

My dryer vent is also on an outside wall. Has a flapper to keep cold air / bugs from coming as well as a mesh cap that we clean occasionally...

I would definitely not vent under the floor.

Dan

[camp guy]

I would follow what upthesaukee suggested, but, I would add the suggestion that the lateral pipe be insulated. When I first put in a dryer vent in the basement the run from the outside wall to the dryer was about 35 feet. I used the aluminum sections of vent pipe, and the heat in the vent pipe condensed and dripped to the floor the full 35 feet. I cured this by wrapping the pipe in insulation.

[codeman671]

We are open underneath so condensation off the pipe is fine. Its probably an 8' run to reach the side wall of the house. I need to come up with a fitting to get it through the floor that will keep the pests out, provide a tight seal and allow the hose underneath to connect as well.

[thinkxingu]

My home dryer vents to the side of the house. I would avoid venting underneath at all costs, both for the condensation (I don't think it's ever worth risking mold, rotting, etc.) and continuous deposits of, essentially, timber. Dried dryer lint is absurdly good fire starter.

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[tummyman]

Bet a toilet flange with a long neck turned upside down would work for the floor if you cannot find anything else. I would use plastic pipe for the outside run.

[FlyingScot]

We have a ventless dryer, avoiding the whole moisture exhaust problem. They start at around $900--a few hundred bucks more than a standard dryer, but you save the expense of installing the vent and it lowers your electric bill. You might check them out at best Buy or elsewhere

[Bear Guy]

One other consideration: condensation inside any horizontal run. My current home essentially has a p-trap in the dryer vent, which has caused me headaches (as it traps water, which traps lint, which blocks flow).

As for the floor pass-through, there are flanges, or boxes, and/or elbows designed for dryer venting, that would be rigid and could be sealed against pests.

Story time: we had a squirrel entry through our vent. The end of the pipe wasn't sealed well enough. The squirrel traveled up the pipe, was stopped by the dryer itself, then chewed its way through the flexible pipe getting into the house.

[DEJ]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

We have a ventless dryer, avoiding the whole moisture exhaust problem. They start at around $900--a few hundred bucks more than a standard dryer, but you save the expense of installing the vent and it lowers your electric bill. You might check them out at best Buy or elsewhere

This, no need to get a dryer that requires venting this day and age.

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[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

We have a ventless dryer, avoiding the whole moisture exhaust problem. They start at around $900--a few hundred bucks more than a standard dryer, but you save the expense of installing the vent and it lowers your electric bill. You might check them out at best Buy or elsewhere

Just an fyi...we were looking into one of these recently and my contractor totally steered me away from going ventless for the following reasons..

#1. He said it takes 2 to 3 times longer for drying.
#2. It adds a lot of moisture to the air in the the house.
#3. Ventless only came in small sizes / compact sizes.
#4. There is a place where water collects on the unit that must be drained.

Number 3 was enough to steer us in a different direction but I was surprised at all the other reasons as well...

Do you have one?? If so are the above statements true?? My contractor just about refused to go that route and said we would hate it!

Dan

[jbolty]

one of my freidns went thru this and his experience was a little different but just to add in some information. His run was pretty long so they added a booster fan. also the run had a 90 bend in an inaccessible place so they added an secondary lint filter. neither was very expensive.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Just an fyi...we were looking into one of these recently and my contractor totally steered me away from going ventless for the following reasons..

#1. He said it takes 2 to 3 times longer for drying.
#2. It adds a lot of moisture to the air in the the house.
#3. Ventless only came in small sizes / compact sizes.
#4. There is a place where water collects on the unit that must be drained.

Number 3 was enough to steer us in a different direction but I was surprised at all the other reasons as well...

Do you have one?? If so are the above statements true?? My contractor just about refused to go that route and said we would hate it!

Dan

Good questions! Yes, they do take longer for drying--that doesn't bother me. The capacity is lower--that does bother me, but my wife likes it. It does not add moisture to the house--ours is in a large closet, so I'd definitely notice. It does not need to be drained--ours drains in the same spot as the washer next to it.

So I'd say pros and cons vs regular, but nothing earth shaking either way. The thing that leads me to ventless in this situation is the OP's venting puzzle.

[DickR]

Definitely run the vent out to the side. Use solid wall pipe, not flex, as that would tend to collect lint over time. Insulating the pipe is worthwhile, as blowing moist air through a cold pipe will result in condensation and thus lint collection. Out at the wall, think about the type of vent cap you want. Nearly every cap with a flapper on a hinge I ever have used collects lint right at the hinge, keeping the flapper from closing tightly. Cleaning that hinge area regularly would work, but these things tend to be ignored. The type of wall cap I prefer is this one: https://www.hardwarestore.com/lambro...SABEgKwI_D_BwE for $22 at Aubuchon. It has a floating shuttle that rides up on exhaust air, then settles back down for a tight seal. The top is removable for periodic cleaning.

[billy]

Dick R any freezing or snow accumulation problems on the flap in winter with that type of vent?

[DickR]

Originally Posted by billy

Dick R any freezing or snow accumulation problems on the flap in winter with that type of vent?

It's not a flap on top; that's the top cover, lifted up for display purposes. I suppose snow could sit on the cover until the next use of the dryer. Then the heat from the air coming out would melt it off, but air does not flow out there anyway, so it doesn't matter. If you click on the link to see what it looks like, to the right of the picture is a right-bracket that you can click to cycle through the different pictures. The third shows what the inside looks like, with the top lid lifted up as though for cleaning. That lid stays down during normal operation. Inside, a light plastic cylindrical cup floats up on outgoing dryer exhaust air, constrained laterally by the six vertical fins inside the outer case. That air lifts the cup up, and the air flows out around the sides and exits the device flowing downward around the 90 degree ell coming out of the wall. The item in the link is essentially the same as the Heartland 21000 dryer vent shown here, with its own pictures: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017MC2MT0...dDbGljaz10cnVl

[Descant]

Washline! Should be called dryer line. $3()?) for 50'.

[Hillcountry]

Originally Posted by Descant

Washline! Should be called dryer line. $3()?) for 50'.

Actually called a clothesline

[ApS]

An environmentalist would run a metal pipe within living spaces to recover heat that the dryer would have lost to the outdoors.

But would also have used a clothesline in suitably comfortable weather.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by ApS

An environmentalist would run a metal pipe within living spaces to recover heat that the dryer would have lost to the outdoors.

That's essentially what the ductless dryers are doing

[Descant]

Originally Posted by codeman671

We are open underneath so condensation off the pipe is fine. Its probably an 8' run to reach the side wall of the house. I need to come up with a fitting to get it through the floor that will keep the pests out, provide a tight seal and allow the hose underneath to connect as well.

My maintenance guy says NO HOSE. smooth side pipe only.