How often does a dryer vent need to be cleaned?
When it comes to cleaning your dryer vent, perhaps the most frequent question we get is, “how often do I need to clean my dryer vent?” As with most things in our industry, the answer is frequently: “it depends.” Technically speaking, it really is best to clean your dryer vent once a year. If any of the following are true for you, you should definitely heed this advise:
You have a family. (We all know how much laundry kids require.)
Your dryer is in the middle of your home. (The further your dryer has to push the air out, the more opportunity there is for lint to get stuck in the exhaust pipe.)
You use your dryer all the time. (You don’t have to have kids to use your dryer all the time.)
Your dryer vent has a few turns before it leaves your house. (Each turn in the exhaust pipe makes the dryer have to work harder.)
You would rather not worry about house fires. (Lint in dryer vents is a potential fire hazard.)
We tell our commercial customers that they likely need their dryer vent cleaned more than once a year. Some customers need their vents cleaned quarterly. We rarely tell customers that it should be more than a year between dryer vent cleanings, but if the dryer is hardly ever used, it could be possible. My advise to all customers is if you think you need a dryer vent cleaned, you probably do.