LESLIE: Phil in Florida, the description of your question is “Dryer vents into attic and collecting lint.” This sounds terrible. What’s going on?
PHIL: Well, it doesn’t vent into the attic. It goes straight from the ground – single story house – and goes straight up, you know, to the roof where it’s got to make 180 degree bend to get outside. And there’s a screen to protect the little bugs from coming in.
TOM: Right.
PHIL: And that keeps getting filled up.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: With the lint.
PHIL: With lint.
LESLIE: Well, are you cleaning your dryer lint collector regularly?
PHIL: Oh, yes. We do it every time; you know, after every – after every dryer.
TOM: Well, first of all, the screen on the end – the end of a dryer exhaust hose is not supposed to have a screen.
PHIL: Mm-hmm.
TOM: It’s supposed to just have a damper, a flap. Generally, insect infestation into that is not much of an issue. Because it’s – you know, it’s on frequently and it’s not a very pleasant place for insects to get caught up into. So it’s going to be very important that you remove that screen because it’s inappropriate for that screen to be there.
The other thing – keep in mind that when you’re pushing dryer lint up against the force of gravity, that dryer duct gets filled up with lint faster than just about any other type …
LESLIE: Which is a huge fire hazard.
TOM: Yeah, it’s a big, stinking fire hazard. You really need to get a dryer brush and actually get in there and clean it out.
LESLIE: And it’s actually a fun project. (chuckling)
TOM: Yeah, Leslie and I both did it. We were both pretty embarrassed with how much lint came out.
LESLIE: Well, I knew at the point when my house was coughing up lint balls …
TOM: It was time.
LESLIE: … I had a problem. (chuckling) I was like, “Wow.”
TOM: So clean it out and then remove that screen at the end and that’s going to solve the problem, Phil.
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