How do you unclog a dryer vent from the roof?

Dryer vents are an essential part of the laundry room setup of your home. Correctly cleaned vents maintain fire safety and help your dryer to perform up to its full capacity. You will sometimes have to clean out this vent but you might not want to have to go up on the roof to do so.

You can clean out your dryer vent without going on your roof by moving your dryer away from the wall and accessing the vent tube from the dryer. You will need to turn off the electricity to the room and then vacuum out the entrance to the tube. You can then use a leaf blower to push the remaining lint out of the dryer vent on the roof side.

If this process sounds like the perfect solution for your dryer vent cleaning needs, you need to read on to learn more about it!

Contents

• 1 Are All Dryer Vents on the Roof?
• 2 How to Clean a Dryer Vent Without Going on the Roof
  • 2.1 Pros to Using this Method to Clean Your Dryer Vent
  • 2.2 Cons to using this Method to Clean Your Dryer Vent
• 3 Are There Other Ways to Clean my Dryer Vent Without Going on the Roof?
• 4 Cleaning Your Dryer Vents is Important
• 5 Conclusion

Are All Dryer Vents on the Roof?

Not all dryer vents lead out to the roof. In some homes, the dryer vent will be on the wall of the home. You can still use the same cleaning process as the one for your roof vent, however. Many dryer vents are not at a height that allows for easy access from the vent side of the tube.

Being able to clean your dryer vents out the smart way can make sure that your home is safe and secure and that your dryer is performing correctly every time that you use it. You should remember that this process should be done at least twice a year but you might need to do it more often if you are drying a lot of clothes on a daily basis.

These are the steps to make sure that you can avoid going out onto the roof when you need to clean out your dryer vent. This is a good process to use particularly if you have a steep roof or do not have the right ladder to safely access your roof dryer vent.

Step-by-Step guide:

1. Pull the dryer back from the wall carefully. Move your washer out of the way as well to make sure that you can access the area behind the dryer with ease. You will need to be able to move around in this space quite a bit to complete this process.
2. Turn off the electricity in the room for safety.
3. Take the vent tube off the wall and catch any of the lint that falls out of the vent tube on a towel so that you can remove it later.
4. Use a vacuum and pick up lint inside the dryer and around the back of the dryer. You should also vacuum out the entrance to the tubing and make sure that you are not leaving any lint clinging to the edges of the tube or the entrance into the wall.
5. You will now need to wrap a towel around the hole for the vent tube. This will keep lint from blowing back into your face when you move on to the next steps.
6. Use a leaf blower and run it for about 30 seconds blowing into the opening in the wall.
7. If you have someone in your family that can go outside to see if there is lint coming out of the vent, this will be a big help for your needs. Usually, there will be lint that is blowing out of the vent that is quite visible.
8. Make sure that you clean up the lint that has come back into the room after you remove the towel and turn off the leaf blower.
9. Re-attach the dryer vent hose and then move the dryer and washer back into place. You should clean up any remaining lint in the dryer or around the dryer while you have it away from the wall.
10. Turn the electricity back on for the room.
11. Plug your dryer back in and push it back against the wall.

This is a great method to use if you are not able to get onto your roof or if you are worried about falling once you do get on the roof. You will also find that this is much less likely to cause issues with the integrity of your roof design since removing vents and replacing them can actually damage roof tiles or cause leaks in the roof that was not there before.

Pros to Using this Method to Clean Your Dryer Vent

This method is a great choice for your dryer vent cleaning needs for a number of reasons:

• Much safer than climbing in the roof.
• Will does not damage your roof due to removing and replacing the vent cover for your dry tube.
• Can be done without the help.

Cons to using this Method to Clean Your Dryer Vent

•   The lint that you have blown out of the vent will end up all over your yard and roof and can be time-consuming to clean up.
• You might not get all of the lint out due to the angle of the tube and the power of your leaf blower.

No matter which method of cleaning you use, there will be some drawbacks, so you will need to consider which method causes you the least hassle overall.

Are There Other Ways to Clean my Dryer Vent Without Going on the Roof?

There is another way that you can clean the dryer vent without having to go onto the roof. There are brush cleaning kits that are sold for this purpose and you can invest in one of these brushes to help you to clean out the dry vent with ease. You can get these items at home improvement stores or through online sellers with ease.

These brushes are attached to a long pole that will help you to reach the top of the vent tube or you might also be able to attach them to a drill that will spin them more quickly for tough to reach areas that collect lint. You can get these brushes in many styles as well as different lengths. This is a really great solution that is often easy to use and does not require much in the way of skill.

Cleaning Your Dryer Vents is Important

This is a home care process that is important for any homeowner to complete on a regular basis. Dryer vents that are not cleaned out can cause fire risk and you might also end up with clogged dryer vents that blow lint back down them and cause damage to the dryer. Make sure that you are taking the time to properly clean your dryer vent regularly so that you are not putting your home’s safety at risk.

Conclusion

Cleaning vent out is that your dryer will likely have a much longer lifespan than if this necessary process is not completed. Both the dryer and the vent need to be cared for if you want your dryer to last for a long time. Maintaining the fire safety of your home is much easier if you take the time to clean out your dryer vents correctly on a regular basis.