We were having a problem with our dryer drying clothes last week. After opening the back of the dryer and being surprised at how clean it was, I then had to follow the problem outside. The duct from the dryer to the wall was very old and thick with lint and crushed here and there, so I replaced it and did a much better job installing it without crushing it. That did not solve the problem, so then I figured it was in the wall. I measured and between the washroom and the outside, there is a bathroom, about seven feet long, add another foot for the walls, and I figure that is a total of about 8-9ft of ductwork in the house. I could stick the extensions of the vacuum from the washroom and the outside about 2ft in and it looked clean, but then there is a weird turn, for no obvious reason. My thought it that the plug was hidden where the line bends, but how to get to it.
I went online looking for a solution, and apparently, this is a very common problem. Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, even Walmart sells a duct cleaning kit. I wasn't sure, especially with the turns, it just seems the poles that come with it will not be as flexible and tear up the thin metal of the ducts. I guess I was wrong, it worked great.
I did watch a tutorial or two and the first thing I caught as advise was that run the dryer for a second, see if there is air flow. If there isn't, use the metal device that looks like it belongs in a blender, it is all teeth and curved, so as not to get caught in the ducts, built like a C, with the teeth to the inside. I could feel when it hit the impacted material, felt solid, but squishy, somehow. I started taking stabs at it, but it didn't seem to be making headway. I then added the vacuum, sticking in one of the poles and sucking as close as possible. This helped remove the loose debris and allowed the metal cutter to keep moving forward. Once it punched through the solid, it felt like it moved without resistance, I switched to the brush that is about the diameter of the tubing, four inches. What I thought would be about 8 feet total, turned into all the rods being used, about 13 feet total. At that point, I hit something that felt solid again, but I assumed it was the dryer.
I then went and turned on the dryer and I had air flow again. I kept spinning the brush with the drill, I forgot to mention the use of a drill to spin these attachments and properly clean the ducts. A lot of lint kept coming for a while, until I couldn't get more to come out. With the dryer blowing and all the cleaning I did, I can only imagine the duct is as clean as it can be. Hopefully, this problem goes away, for another few years.
This is the kit, if it can help somebody.
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