Has anyone experimented w/ piping dryer vents into house in the winter?

[darkstar]

Our washer/dryer combo is in the kitchen of our new house and it vents into garage. Pumping it out in winter seems wasteful. I figured some kind of Y split with a damper to shunt it outside in summer, in during winter with filter stage, would be easy to construct. But then I thought I can't be the first to have this thought. Has anyone experimented with this? Does anyone make an off the shelf piece? Tips?

Thanks in advance.

[NMDemDist2]

1. there's a LOT of moisture in that heat

if you live in the desert maybe........

[Warpy]

4. I live in the desert and it's a bad idea here, too

See below...

[Warpy]

2. I had the dryer vent hose become disconnected

and didn't discover it until the windows were fogged up and I'd lost a stack of photographs that were stored near the dryer. It was an expensive lesson.

In addition, it's a gas dryer and pumping the fumes along with the moist air into the house is a bad idea.

Venting into the garage and warming the garage is probably the best you're going to do.

[marybourg]

3. And as my back patio which is always covered in lint will attest,

that air ain't fit to breathe even tho I clean my lint filter after every wash day (altho not after every wash, I admit(

[Warpy]

5. I've done a bit more thinking

and you might be able to use duct work to build a heat exchanger, a closed loop with fins to radiate the heat back into the house.

You'd have a problem with condensation, though, and would need a trap at the bottom with a screw plug so you could drain the water out after each load.

IMO, the heat you'd regain would be minimal, although if you do a lot of loads of drying every week it could possibly add up enough to make a difference.

I still think the best idea is to warm the garage. It's always nicer to change the oil in a warmer garage.

[here_is_to_hope]

6. I vent mine into a small cold frame

and it really helps the greens grow through the winter.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. My brother used to do that - vent to the inside.

.
.
.

His was in the basement, along with a wood-stove which is pretty dry heat

no problems with moisture.

As for the lint,

he just cut up one of his wife's pantyhose, doubled up the legs, and tie wrapped them to the outlet . . .

just a WEE problem,

but his wife settled down after a bit . . .

:silly:

[bvar22]

8. Never EVER vent a GAS dryer into the house !

Let me repeat:

Never EVER vent a GAS dryer into the house.
The potential for Carbon Monoxide poisoning is VERY high.

On the other Hand,
we have been venting out electric dryer into our house during Winter for the last 2 years without problems.

We moved to very rural Central Arkansas (Ouachita Mountains) in 2006.
We heat with a wood stove, and use the electric dryer as a supplemental source of heat. We plan our drying to supplement the Wood stove. (We dry clothes at night or early mornings).
Our cabin is fairly open floor plan, so the humidity from the dryer doesn't build up in a closed area, and the extra humidity is appreciated.
Also, there is just the two of us here which amounts to about 1 or two load of clothes per week.

In The Winter, we simply disconnect the vent hose and put a knee high stocking over the end of the hose. We keep the knee high stocking and dryer filter very clean. The addition of lint or dust to the air has not been noticeable.
We will probably buy one of those $5 dollar dryer Exhaust Diverter Boxes (Google) , or build one ourselves this Winter.

Once Again:
Never EVER vent a GAS dryer into your house.

In The Summer, we use this:
Solar Powered Clothes Dryer

Toxic Emissions = 0

Carbon Footprint = 0

Dollars to Big Energy = 0

Tax Dollars to fund Wars/Wall Street = 0

[Matilda]

9. Very interested to see your clothesline.

Every free-standing house in Australia has its "Hills Hoist" - a rotary clothesline outside, with four lines in
concentric circles - you hang little things on the inside lines, and big things outside.

I've read that many local councils in the States won't allow people to dry their clothes outside though - is that
true?

[DrDan]

10. that is true

but it is more a Homeowner Association matter than a city government issue (as far as I know - I know of no local communities restricting the use of outdoor lines).

We use a line. I really like the feel of sheets and t-shirts that have dried outside. And - it has cut down significantly on my electricity charges.

[hippywife]

11. Luckily, we live in a rural area

and can dry our clothes out on a line. I gave my dryer away three years ago to cut down on energy consumption and it's been great! :hi:

[kestrel91316]

12. "Councils" ie govenrment doesn't restrict clotheslines in the US....

it's those EVIL individual-private-property-rights-obsessed homeowners' associations in residential developments that are the problem. IIRC, in some states or locales, there are actually laws now that say HOA's cannot prohibit clotheslines. We need it codified in the US Constitution, IMHO!

[Warpy]

13. I'd love a solar powered dryer

but for months out of the year in the desert we have wind and wind blown grit and unless I want everything dyed adobe brown, I have to use the damn dryer.

I do throw the rag rugs out on the porch to dry, though. The air is so dry here that they dry in a couple of hours even in winter.

[chillspike]

14. Why not build a small greenhouse

and put your clothes in that to dry?