Chimney services, Portland metro
Dryer vent cleaning in Portland, with the lint shown to you afterward
We clean Portland-area dryer vents end to end, from the back of the dryer to the outside hood, with a rotary brush and a vacuum, then run the dryer so you feel the air at the hood and see the lint we pulled.
Updated
What you are seeing
A restricted dryer vent shows up in the laundry room long before anyone looks at the hood outside.
- Towels need a second cycle, even though the lint screen was clean when you started.
- The top of the dryer and the clothes at the end of a cycle are hot to the touch.
- The laundry room turns warm and humid while the dryer runs.
- Lint on the siding below the hood, or none at the hood after years of use.
- A scorched or hot-dust smell when the dryer is running.
- The hood flap stays shut when the dryer is on, or hangs open with lint wedged in it.
What we do on a dryer vent visit
A dryer vent cleaning works from both ends toward the middle, and it ends with the dryer running.
Check the hood and feel the airflow before touching anything
We start outside with the dryer running: a flap that barely lifts, a weak puff of warm air or a mat of lint behind the louvers tells us how blocked the run is before the brush goes in. Then the dryer is pulled out and the duct behind it checked for crushing, foil flex and gaps at the joints.
Disconnect the dryer and clear the lint screen housing
The transition duct comes off the dryer and the wall, and the housing below the lint screen, where a surprising amount of lint collects out of sight, is vacuumed with a narrow wand. A gas dryer is moved gently so the gas connector is never strained, and the dryer stays off until the vent is back together.
Brush the full run with the vacuum pulling the other way
A rotary brush on flexible rods goes in from the laundry side while the vacuum draws from the hood, or the reverse when the layout makes that cleaner, so loosened lint moves toward the vacuum instead of packing an elbow. Each rod added is a known length, so by the end we know how long the run is and how many bends it takes.
Clear the hood and free the flap
The hood is opened, the lint mat and any nest material behind the louvers are pulled out, and the flap is freed so it swings shut on its own and lifts with the first push of air. A flap stuck open lets rain and birds in; one stuck shut turns your dryer into a room heater.
Reconnect with a proper transition duct and run the dryer
The dryer goes back on a semi-rigid metal transition duct with clamps, kept as short and straight as the space allows and never crushed against the wall. Then it runs for several minutes while we go outside and feel the air at the hood, which should push hard and warm. Inside, we check that no joint is leaking lint.
Show you the lint and write down the run
The lint comes out in a bag so you can see what was in the vent, along with photos of the hood before and after. We note the length of the run, the number of elbows, the duct material and anything that should change, such as foil flex inside a wall.
How much of a fire hazard is lint in a dryer vent, in plain numbers
A federal fire study published in 2012, covering 2008 to 2010, estimated about 2,900 clothes dryer fires a year in American homes and found that failure to clean was the factor named most often, in about a third of them.
Lint is dry, fine and packed into a warm metal tube a few feet from a heating element, which is why the same study listed dust, fiber and lint among the items first ignited. Said plainly: lint is fuel, so the run gets cleaned when the signs appear and the foil flex comes out of the wall.
Why long runs and roof terminations clog first in Portland houses
The worst vents are the long ones. A laundry room in the middle of a house may vent up through the attic to the roof with three or four elbows, and every elbow is where lint slows and settles.
A roof termination has two more problems: the lint has to be lifted straight up, and the cap sits under Portland rain and moss, where a lint-caked flap stops closing and the duct fills with water that turns the lint to paste. Those runs are cleaned from the roof as well as from the dryer.
Model code limits how long a dryer duct may be and takes a deduction for each elbow, and the dryer maker may allow more or less. When a run is over the limit, a booster fan or a shorter route is the fix, and cleaning alone will not keep it clear.
Foil flex, rigid metal and booster fans: what the duct behind your dryer should be
The duct inside a wall, floor or attic should be smooth rigid metal, and the short transition from the dryer to the wall should be semi-rigid metal, not the shiny foil or white vinyl tube sold on the shelf next to the dryers.
Foil and vinyl flex sag, trap lint in every ridge and crush flat when the dryer is pushed back; vinyl also burns. We replace a foil transition with semi-rigid metal on the spot, and when foil runs inside a wall we tell you so and price the rigid replacement.
A booster fan belongs only on a run too long to vent on its own, and it needs cleaning too, since lint packs its blades.
Birds in the dryer hood every spring
Starlings and sparrows find a warm, lint-lined dryer hood with a stuck flap and build a nest in it each spring, and the first sign is a dryer that stops drying and a chirp from the laundry room wall.
We clear the nest once it is empty, clean the run, and free the flap that let them in, because a flap that swings shut on its own keeps them out without a screen.
What the dryer vent cleaning price depends on
The posted price covers a run from the dryer to a wall hood with a bend or two, and these are the things that add to it.
- A roof termination, which means a ladder, roof access and cleaning from both ends.
- A long run with several elbows, or one through a crawl space or attic that has to be reached in sections.
- A booster fan in the run, which is opened and cleaned separately.
- Replacing a crushed or foil transition duct with semi-rigid metal, priced as the part plus a few minutes.
- A nest or a duct packed solid, which takes more passes and more vacuum time.
- A second dryer in the house.
When a repair stops making sense
Cleaning stops being the answer when the duct is wrong. Foil or vinyl flex inside a wall, floor or attic is replaced with rigid metal rather than brushed again, because it packs with lint as fast and tears when the brush goes through.
A transition duct kinked flat behind the dryer is replaced, not straightened. A run longer than the dryer maker allows gets a shorter route or a booster fan, and a roof termination that fills with rain every winter is sometimes better moved to a wall.
Dryer vent: common questions
How often should a dryer vent be cleaned in a Portland house?
Clean it as soon as the dryer shows a restricted vent: towels needing a second cycle, a hot laundry room, or lint at the outside hood. A long run, a roof termination or a dryer that runs every day gets there fastest, so those are worth checking more often. The dryer is a better guide than the calendar.
Can you clean a dryer vent that ends on the roof?
Yes. A roof termination is cleaned from both ends: the brush goes up the run from the laundry room, and we go up a ladder to open the cap, clear the lint mat and check that the flap or louvers close. Roof caps under Portland moss and rain can stick more than wall hoods, so they are checked every time.
Why does my dryer still take two cycles after I cleaned the lint screen?
Because the lint screen catches only part of the lint; the rest travels into the vent and settles at every elbow and in the hood. A dryer that cannot push its moist air out keeps tumbling wet clothes in a warm box. Cleaning the full run from dryer to hood is what brings the cycle time back.
Can a dryer vent be cleaned from the outside only?
Partly, which is why we work from both ends. Brushing from the hood alone pushes lint back toward the dryer and leaves the transition duct and lint screen housing untouched, so we pull the dryer, brush from inside with the vacuum at the hood, and finish at the hood.
Should the outside dryer vent hood have a screen over it?
No. A screen catches lint, clogs and blocks the flap, which is why the trade fits a backdraft flap and no screen at a dryer termination. The flap keeps birds and rain out when it closes properly. If yours has a screen, we remove it and make sure the flap swings freely instead.
Can you clean the dryer vent on the same visit as a chimney sweep?
Yes, and it is the easiest way to book it, since the same truck carries both sets of rods and brushes. Book the sweep and say you want the dryer vent added; it is priced as an add-on on the price board. The two jobs are done one after the other, with the lint and the flue photos handed over together.
Related pages
Where we do this
We clean dryer vents in every area below, wall hoods and roof terminations alike, from Beaverton and Tigard to Gresham.
Ready to book a sweep?
Call with what the fireplace is doing, or text a photo of the opening and one of the chimney top, and we will name the service and its posted price before we come out.