Commercial Dryer Vent Cleaning: Efficiency Plus Safety
Along with air duct cleaning, dryer vent cleaning contributes to indoor air quality in rental residential units as well as overall safety. Keeping dryer vents clean, clear, and functioning properly is yet another way that the local Fresh Sweeps team brings comfort, safety, and security to all of your tenants regardless of property type, size, or age.
Dryer vent cleanings from Fresh Sweeps helps address a problem that often goes ignored until it is costing the property or it leads to a direct danger. What problem is that? Well, to understand the issue, you first need to know both how dryer vents work and why cleaning them is so vital.
First of all, a clothes dryer naturally produces lint from the items being dried by the resident or staff member. No matter what kind of fabric is being dried, it will shed fibers or filaments by being spun following the agitation started inside the washer and dryer. Some clothes, linens, and towels will continue to release them even after many wash cycles.
These fibers or filaments “find” each other, becoming matted or twisted into a form commonly referred to as “lint.” As small as pea or as large as a quarter, these masses can appear to be compacted or open like a puffball. Whether from natural or synthetic fibers, these masses are highly flammable because they are dry and full of air pockets.
Some pieces of lint are caught in the removable filter in a dryer. Many more are propelled by air through the dryer vent duct to the dryer vent at the back of the appliance. Both the dryer vent and dryer vent duct usually catch or trap at least some of the lint rather than it all passing through.
Over time and many drying cycles, the dryer vent and dryer vent duct become places where multiple lint masses lodge as they catch on to each other. No matter whether they are stopped short of the removable lint trap or outside wall venting, the presence of lint masses contributes to two significant challenges. The first is reduced efficiency of the dryer itself. As air no longer leaves the dryer easily (in the face of lint obstacles), the entire airflow system is compromised.
Now the dryer must work harder to reach desired dryness levels for the laundry user. Such restrictions or obstacles can double the time (and money) spent to dry the load. Some residents may seek out assistance while others simply become unhappy.
Second, the impeded dryer vent and dryer vent duct continue to collect masses of fibers and filaments. These can grow from quarter-sized wads to fist-sized collections of flammable material. As they make no noise and are visually hidden inside the ducting, the person doing laundry or the laundry room maintenance worker doesn’t know they are forming.
Easily ignited by higher dryer temperatures or a spark from the dryer’s electric motor, these obstacles can burn easily and rapidly. Fires can appear in the dryer chamber, the back side of the appliance, or even inside the wall itself.
Firefighters dread these scenarios as laundry rooms are normally cramped, disorganized, and hard to access. Plus, these fires easily penetrate flammable walls which act as paths for flames to travel throughout the building.
A Fact That Everyone Should Know
Of the approximately 2,900 residential clothes dryer fires annually in the United States, the U.S. Fire Administration estimates fully 1,000 are caused by failing to clean dryer vents and dryer ducts regularly.
Inspection is the start followed by a thorough cleaning. After that, Fresh Seeps is happy to work with you to establish a regularly scheduled plan to keep pace with lint build up in heavily used clothes dryers.
Call Fresh Sweeps today and ask about our commercial dryer vent cleaning services.
