Advice needed: Dryer vent piping

[morgin]

Hopefully this is a short thread and someone knows something about this - the dryer is in the basement up against a north wall, and the vent is at ceiling height against the east wall. The previous owner rigged up (with multiple elbows) 4" rigid dryer vent piping to go at a 45 degree angle out the back of the dryer up to the top corner where the north and east walls meet, then more elbows to get it facing the right way, then a span that runs along the top of the east wall, and then more elbows and a short span that connects to the vent to outside. In their wisdom, they just stuck the dryer randomly and cut everything to fit that random spot. I'm doing some organizing downstairs and want to move the dryer - problem is that the piping will no longer fit and I'm going to have to redo/modify it.

Anyone know much about doing piping for the dryer vent? I see home depot sells http://www.homedepot.ca/product/drye...x8-foot/959940 which seems like it would be easier to hook up than rigid piping.

What's standard in newer homes that won't catch fire or cause a spider infestation?

[Ashartus]

I have the flexible piping but my dryer vent is right behind the dryer - I wouldn't run it anywhere exposed since it's relatively easy to damage.

[#22]

I had the exact problem. I moved my dryer, removed all the old piping, and with a bit of puzzling redid the piping straight up and out. I didn't use any of that flex pipe because a lot of lint / fluff / crap gets caught up in all those folds which seemed to me to be a bit of a fire hazard (the existing piping had a length of it and when I took it out, it was nearly plugged). The hard piping is not that hard to do, kind of like Lego with a screw-gun.

Good Luck!

[morgin]

Originally Posted by #22

I had the exact problem. I moved my dryer, removed all the old piping, and with a bit of puzzling redid the piping straight up and out. I didn't use any of that flex pipe because a lot of lint / fluff / crap gets caught up in all those folds which seemed to me to be a bit of a fire hazard (the existing piping had a length of it and when I took it out, it was nearly plugged). The hard piping is not that hard to do, kind of like Lego with a screw-gun.

Good Luck!

Did you screw it together or just use the clamps? I'm trying to sort out what I'll need to buy - seems like a lot of the pipe is designed to slot together and you just cut the wider end to fit with tin snips.

[kevman]

Use the hard piping - it's not that hard and will flow better.

Also, your dryer will probably have a max length for vent piping. A common standard that I found is 25' maximum vent length. Subtract 5' for every 90° corner and 2' for ever 45° corner. In other words attempt to bring the vent straight up and straight out....

[kevman]

Oh yeah, don't use screws. You're not suppose to use screws because the lint can get hung up on the screws. Instead you should use a proper vent tape. It's shiny, heat resistant, very adhesive and much better suited for dryer vents then "duct tape".

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by kevman

Oh yeah, don't use screws. You're not suppose to use screws because the lint can get hung up on the screws. Instead you should use a proper vent tape. It's shiny, heat resistant, very adhesive and much better suited for dryer vents then "duct tape".

Double this...screws in dryer vents = bad