Dryer Heat Diverter

[politicat]

If you have an electric dryer, a good way to re-use the heat you're paying for to dry your clothes AND put some much needed humidity in the air is a dryer Heat diverter.

It's a $4 piece of equipment that installs on the vent pipe.

It's only really useful if you have an electric dryer - gas dryers need to vent the CO and other chemicals outside.

I found one here: http://www.hardwareworld.com/Ex-12-Heat-Saver--Lint-Trap-pPFKKUS.aspx

[fight4my3sons]

1. Thank you for this.

We have a finished, but unheated basement (we are renting). The washer and dryer are down there, so is the shower. Don't know why we didn't think of this last year!

So glad I found this group today!

[NMDemDist2]

2. welcome to Frugal living!

:hi:

[fight4my3sons]

3. Thanks!

[politicat]

4. Glad to see you!

Welcome to DU, and glad to be of service!

[Qanisqineq]

5. Or, if you don't want to buy anything...

(I learned this today when my dryer was cleaned by a maintenance person)

just "unplug" the hose from the vent in the exterior wall and put a nylon sock over the end. The nylon keeps lint from flying around your house. Just be sure to clean the nylon regularly.

[NMDemDist2]

6. "nylon sock" = "panty hose" ??? n/t

[progressoid]

7. That's what I do.

And then plug the vent to the outside to keep out drafts (and a mouse that tried to get in a few weeks ago).

[politicat]

8. That would let cold air into my house....

Vent in the wall is pretty chilly, and we've already insulated around it. I'd prefer not to have a cold breeze (below freezing breeze) all the time; it would defeat the purpose of using the heat.

[Qanisqineq]

9. I guess I should have been more thorough in my explanation

you plug the hole to the outside with whatever you choose. Or cover it with plastic.

[postulater]

13. I've done that for a couple years

Only trouble is that if the sock gets linted up too much the dryer heats up too much and blows the thermal fuse. That requires replacement or if you bypass it you risk a fire.

A family of four in my nice suburb died a few years ago when their dryer overheated and the house burned to the ground, so be careful.

[jasmeel]

10. Thanks! I've been wondering how to use that heat!n/t

[I_Make_Mistakes]

11. Thanks, will do tomorrow. My dryer, in a condo already provides

heat, but this is the best. I just want to make sure that I have it correct, there are two receptacles, with an elbow joint connecting them, correct? The top receptacle is to exhaust the lint/heat and the bottom to collect the lint, correct?

You nylon seal the bottom receptacle and reap the heat heating ventilation, correct?

I live in the northeast and it would be something to put it to the gas/oil traders!

[politicat]

12. There should be a big silver scrunchy pipe that looks like a low-budget

robot arm from the back of the dryer to the wall. If you're using a deflector, that device goes somewhere in the middle, preferably in a place where it's easy to access - we had to go buy another length of robot arm hose.

If you're not using a deflector, then the best place to disconnect the hose is at the wall, not at the dryer. It's much easier to clean the lint off of the nylon stocking if you have access to the robot arm hose than it is to get down behind the dryer every time. And you do want to clean that lint trap every time - lint fires are utterly common and people die.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

14. Since I have gas heat the dryer has metal vents not a plastic

vent they use for electric, my mom's was burned in an interior area, seems like a fire hazard to me!

Okay, here is the question, "The top vent straight in leads to the outside and is the quote un quote vent, there is also an elbow joint vent below, that is currently capped (the lint trap as explained to me). The pantyhose or the diverter would go into the lower vent right"?

[politicat]

15. This does not work for gas dryers.

You *have* to vent the CO and CO2 to the outside. Venting a gas dryer inside is a good way to asphyxiate!

All dryers are supposed to have metal vent piping - that's Uniform Building Code.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

16. Actually, not in the area of PA that my mom lives. They used

plastic venting and it ran like 15' - 20' outside. I have metal venting (according to the the inspector her neighbor's buyer hired), because I have gas heat (not dryer, but they share the same room, but not vent).

I could not even properly clean her vent because the plastic ran up the wall and then at least 15' to the exterior wall outlet, along the ceiling of her basement and the plastic did not support the 25' dryer brush I had). Her property is at most 15 yrs. old.

[egadsbrain]

17. WooHoo!

thanks politicat! I'm loving this group. I've been debating the dryer issue in my mind and think this has made up my mind. I have a washer in my apartment, but no dryer. I've always hung my wash out the window the old fashioned-way. It's a Brooklyn tradition. :)

In the winter I just pack up and do the drying at the laundromat around the corner. This year all the laundromats have stopped letting people do this because of high gas prices! You have to use their washers in order to use the dryers.

I'm off to research dryers and "heat diverters" now! Well, after I hang a load of sheets back and forth across the kitchen.