Venting An Electric Dryer Through The Roof

Vent a dryer through the roof only as a last resort.

Venting an electric dryer through the roof. Dryer vents should always be vented through the side of the house and not vented through the roof and ideally the exit should be fairly close to the ground. Vertical exhaust flue clean out found soaked lint in flue. Electric dryer has airflow and heat but back flow due to blockage below goose neck roof cap below roof sheathing in attic. When we bought our condo the home inspector said we might have trouble with the dryer vent and he sure was right.

Since many laundry rooms are located in the middle of the house and so many homes are single story with easy to walk on roof slopes about 6 12 venting the dryer to the roof makes the most sense shortest run with least amount of elbows. Venting the dryer outside in cold weather wastes a lot of heat. Venting dryers to a roof termination or roof cap is very common in the south. As soon as i m in charge there will be no more venting of clothes dryers through the roof.

Difficulty cleaning dryer vent. Mr b february 7 2016 at 6 04 am. Took two rolls paper towel to dry up. These terminals need to be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent lint buildup.

Cleaning lint buildup from roof vents is difficult and nesting birds and squirrels often find roof vent caps irresistible. 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. The laundry is located in the middle of our home in a hall closet. 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.

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 dryer vent can exit through the side or roof of your house and the opening must be capped in some manner to allow the exhaust out but keep out the elements. Keeping a clean dryer vent is much easier when you can safely reach the exit. The less back pressure is created by the roof vent the more efficiently the system performs.