Plenty of West Des Moines homes have the laundry room upstairs next to the bedrooms. It saves a lot of trips with a full basket. The trade-off is the dryer vent. To get from a second-floor laundry room to the outside, the vent often runs through a floor or ceiling, makes a few turns and comes out on a side wall or the roof. The longer and more crooked the run, the faster lint builds up in it.
Top Notch Chimney Sweep & Services is family owned and operated and has been serving Central Iowa since 2002. Our technicians are certified in dryer vent cleaning, and the same team that services chimneys can take care of your dryer vent.
Why Long Runs Clog Faster
A dryer pushes warm, damp, lint-filled air out through the vent. Over a short, straight run, most of that lint makes it outside. Over a long run with elbows, the air slows down, and lint drops out and sticks to the walls, especially at the turns. Emptying the lint screen every load is a good habit, but some lint still slips past it. Once a layer builds up, the air slows even more and the buildup speeds up.
What a Clogged Vent Costs You
A restricted vent forces the dryer to work harder and run longer to dry a load, which wastes time and energy and wears on the dryer. More importantly, lint is flammable. The National Fire Protection Association lists clothes dryers as a leading cause of home laundry fires, and failure to clean is a leading factor in those fires. A clogged vent can also keep carbon monoxide from a gas dryer from venting outside properly.
Signs to watch for upstairs
- Loads that take more than one cycle to dry
- The dryer or the laundry room feels unusually hot
- A burning or smoky smell while the dryer runs
- Weak airflow at the outside vent hood while the dryer is on
How We Clean the Whole Run
We start by checking the vent system for damage and anything that’s causing inefficiency. Then we set up a powerful HEPA vacuum so the lint we loosen is contained and your laundry room stays clean. Specialized brushes go through the full length of the vent to break the lint free, and the vacuum pulls it out. We also check the exterior end for birds, animals and nesting material, which can block a vent completely.
If a section has come apart inside a wall or ceiling or been crushed, we’ll let you know. Read more about the service on our main dryer vent cleaning page.
While We’re at Your House
Since we already have the vacuum set up, adding air duct cleaning in West Des Moines to the same visit is easy. If you have a fireplace, our certified sweeps also offer chimney sweeping.
See our West Des Moines service area page for everything we do around the city.
Upstairs dryer taking forever? Call us at (515) 249-6337 or book your visit online.
