Venting Tumble Dryer Through Roof

These terminals need to be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent lint buildup.

Venting tumble dryer through roof.

Venting the dryer outside in cold weather wastes a lot of heat. I also have a dryer vented through the attic and out to the roof. I take a broom handle and tie a thick rag on the end of it and a rope on the other end. A couple of questions about this.

I think the roof is a stupid spot to terminate clothes dryer vents because it s difficult to clean and it s a major contributor to ice dams. Clothes dryers should be vented through the side of the house preferably within reach from the ground. Every couple of months i ve pulled the vent off where it curves just before it goes to the outside. But we don t recommend it for two reasons.

I push it down the vent shaft and pull it back up to clean. Check with your appliance dealer or local building inspector for recommendations about the best roof vent cap to use. Difficulty cleaning dryer vent. Lately that wasn t the problem.

The less back pressure is created by the roof vent the more efficiently the system performs. Considering that back pressure higher than 6 wci is generally recognized as inefficient you can see that venting through the roof with non dryer specific vents is immediately problematic. Keeping a clean dryer vent is much easier when you can safely reach the exit. When we bought our condo the home inspector said we might have trouble with the dryer vent and he sure was right.

Vent a dryer through the roof only as a last resort. The laundry is located in the middle of our home in a hall closet. To make the dyer more efficient you can buy an inexpensive heat diverter and install it in the exhaust duct of electric dryers only not gas dryers you ll save about 50 worth of heat per load in the winter. The vent should exit the building through the roof or wall at least 3 feet away from any other building openings and the vent cover which must not include a screen should allow dispersal of.

Cleaning lint buildup from roof vents is difficult and nesting birds and squirrels often find roof vent caps irresistible. Directly above the dryer there is a ventilation pipe that goes to the roof also connected to the vent in the bathroom that i could easily re route the dryer vent into.