Hit 2,000 dryer vent cleans, the math surprised me

Last Tuesday I finished job 2,000 for dryer vent cleaning, been keeping a log since I started out of my garage in Tacoma. What threw me was the failure rate, close to 18 percent of vents had lint buildup bad enough to drop airflow by half, way higher than I expected. Most folks never check the exterior flap, and that's where birds and nests love to hide, I've pulled out enough debris to fill a trash bag twice. Has anyone else tracked their numbers and found a pattern like this, or am I just working in a lint heavy zone?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_ross13d ago

...and honestly I think that 18 percent number is actually low if anything. You're measuring static pressure at the dryer side or doing a full flow test with a hood and manometer, not just holding your hand up to the outside flap. Most of these "looks fine" vents have a slow buildup that steals a third of your airflow and you can't tell by eye. The exterior flap is a trap, people never check it, and by the time you see lint poking out the birds have already made it their summer home. Two trash bags over 2,000 jobs is barely anything when you break it down, that's like half a handful per bad vent, which tracks with what I've pulled out of just one clogged system. And for the record you should be way more worried about the ones you cleaned that didn't show up in your log, those are the fires waiting to happen.

the_luna14d ago

Are you checking airflow the same way every time, or just eyeballing it, because 18 percent seems really high. I've seen plenty of dryer vents that look bad on the outside but the actual flow is fine, so maybe your measurement is off. Not saying you're wrong, but a lot of this stuff depends on how strict you are with the test. Also, two trash bags of debris sounds like you're counting every job, not just the bad ones, which could skew the numbers.