What is a dryer vent: Everything You Need To Know

Dryers have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. It is because of them that we can wear dry and clean clothes every day on the way to work, school, or any other place.

But, where does the moisture from the wet clothes go? Also, what about the hot air produced by the dryer and the lint produced by the clothes? 

All of these are exhausted outside by dryer vents. So, what is a dryer vent? A dryer vent is a metal pipe connected to the dryer that collects all the hot air, moisture, and lint produced when clothes are dried. This pipe is connected to the outer wall of the house, where it dumps everything out. 

Let’s take a detailed look at what a dryer vent is, how it works, and its types.

What is a dryer vent?

Dryers in your house play a big role in maintaining your hygiene, punctuality, and overall discipline in your daily life. It dries washed clothes very quickly, which allows you to wash and dry clothes on short notice and wear them everywhere.

Since it has become such an integral part of your life, you probably haven’t really thought about how a dryer actually works. 

When you put washed and wet clothes into a dryer, it tumbles those and starts to dry them by passing hot air over them. This hot air soaks up all the moisture from the wet clothes, making them dry. There is another byproduct of this process, which is lint.

But when you open the dryer after drying the clothes, you don’t find any lint or hot air. So where do they go?

This is where dryer vents come in. These vents are metal pipes of a smaller radius, which are connected to the rear of the dryer, and run all the way through to the outside wall of the house. They deposit all the hot air, lint, and moisture to the outside of the house. 

How does a dryer vent work?

Now that you know what a dryer vent is, it is time for you to know how it works. This will help you find the answers to some of your queries down the line.

The hot air that collects the moisture and lint from the dry clothes, is pushed through the dryer vents. As the vents are open at the exterior of the house, the air, moisture, and lint are then released outside. 

What is the purpose of dryer vents?

The working procedure of the dryer vents in your house is actually quite simple. But why should we need a dryer vent in the first place? What does a dryer vent do?

Why we can’t just have the dryer empty the contents of the dryer inside the house? In reality, the purpose of the dryer vents is actually more significant than we realize. 

Here are the purposes of dryer vents-

1. To prevent fire hazards

As we have mentioned before, dryers produce a lot of hot air and lint, both of which are highly flammable. So, if they are not dumped outside, they will continue to accumulate inside the dryer room.

As a result, the chance of them catching fire increases exponentially. Having a dryer vent dump the lint and hot air outside eradicates the probability of a fire hazard in your home. 

2. To maintain the health of the inhabitants

Apart from the hot air and lint, dryers also produce carbon monoxide, one of the deadliest gases in the world. If human beings inhale this gas, they suffer from various illnesses and even die.

Dryer vents help save the lives of the inhabitants of the house by dumping carbon monoxide outside the house. 

3. To make the house more comfortable to live in

If there was no dryer vent exhausting the hot air outside the house, all of it would have been released inside the house. This will cause the temperature of the house to go up exponentially, making it extremely uncomfortable to live in.

Dryer vents help regulate the temperature inside the house to make it more comfortable. 

4. To make the house energy efficient 

Dryer vents help make the house energy efficient by dumping the hot air outside. As the temperature of the house doesn’t go up, the need to use the HVAC units also doesn’t go up.

This keeps energy consumption in check, which also saves a lot of money on energy bills. So, not only are dryer vents an eco-friendly option, but they are cost-effective as well.

Where can I find the dryer vents?

Now, it is very important to know where dryer vents are and should be located. Whenever we hear the question, “where are dryer vents located?”, we assume there are two possibilities.

First, the homeowners might be new to this, and genuinely don’t know the ins and outs of dryer vents. Second, which is very alarming, is their dryer vents are not located in the right place. 

Dryer vents should always be located on the exterior wall of the house. Sometimes homeowners make a mistake and make the dryer vent pipe too small. This causes the dryer vent to be inside the house. This is a recipe for disaster for a few reasons. 

First, the hot air and lint will not get dumped outside, rather they will keep accumulating inside the walls, increasing the chance of a fire hazard.

Second, the moisture will also keep accumulating inside the walls, causing mould to grow in them, which causes a lot of health issues.

Third, the carbon monoxide produced by the dryer will not go outside, rather it will come back inside the house, causing severe health issues in the inhabitants.

Finally, the moisture causes the wood on the house’s wall to rot and the heat causes a loss of structural integrity of the house. 

What are the types of dryer vents?

Based on where the dryer vents release the air and its components, dryer vents can be of two types. They are: 

Indoor dryer vents

These vents don’t release everything outside the house. This will be the case especially if you live in an apartment complex, where you will not always have access to the outer wall of the building.

There is a filter inside the walls that trap the moisture and lint while releasing the hot air outside. 

Outdoor dryer vents

These are your traditional dryer vents. They collect lint, moisture, and hot air from the dryer and release all of them outside as we have mentioned earlier. 

Final Words

As the leading dryer vent cleaning service in Houston, TX, we, at 832 Service, have to face questions like “What is a dryer vent?” from new homeowners all the time. Once you understand what it is and how it works, you will have no choice but to take a second look at your dryer vents and their welfare.

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