Looking for a new dryer for long vent application

16 years ago

Hello everyone. I haven't posted here in years but I always check this forum for info and usually find what I'm looking for.

I read a post about dryers with dual motors to assist with long vent applications and thought that might be good for our house which has about a 45 foot horizontal run under the house and 4 90Â° bends.

I have been to a couple of stores and asked about this feature and nobody knew what I was talking about nor was it mentioned in any of the info on the dryers that I saw.

On the GE site, they have specific long-vent models, but I don't see this mentioned anywhere else such as the Sears site.

Since the post I read was a year or so old, I thought I might bring this up again and ask for reccomendations.

My critera are:

Gas Dryer

Long vent application as noted

Large capacity, 8.5 Cu ft. or larger

Good reliability

Fast dry times

Colors and finishes are not that important.

Would like to spend less than $900.00 if possible but will pay more if necessary.

If anyone can offer suggestions, I would be grateful.

Thanks so much for all your help.

Featured Answer

tourque

16 years ago

If someone is trying to sell you a dryer, for long run applications, that is not a true statement. Beware of of that. All dryers are made to dry clothes at a cirtain speed, and to a spec sheet. If they were to change the speed of the motor, it would just use more energy, and get less drying as the speed and the finns on the impeller are disigned to move x amount of air at a speed that the heat will dry your close in a specific amount of time. For instance, it will move 135cf per minute, more than that your dryer is running long times and not drying properly. Now that I have said all that, what you need to do, is contact a venting service, that can come and look your system over, and you said you had only 2 90's and 50 feet, I have had them over 100' and 8 90's, and we installed on inline 4" fan/housing in the duck, and had a power line connected to the dryer, so when the dryer started up it also powered up the discharge fan/housing installed down line to help move the air, but also you have to install one that will not change the speed of the dryer motor discharge. Your local venting installer, some of the furnace firms have people that are fully experienced in this sort of addition, or long venting problems. Hope this helps you. Brent@CanBC

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Comments (7)

ogsarg
Original Author
16 years ago
Correction on the capacity. Meant to say 6.5 cu ft or larger.
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tourque
16 years ago
Just me again. If you let a electrician wire in this discharge fan/housing assembly they tend to want to run a single line from a switch in the utility room (laundry room) out to the inline fan/assembly, and run it into your breaker box which is to code and it is a correct why to do it, but if you forget to turn this fan off after the dryer has finished, then it will suck all your heat out of that room, and more. The one we installed was wired directly into the back of the dryer, and the power line was hooked up to the timer, and the nuetral to the nuetral lag, then to ground on the dryer. This way when you turn your dryer to a heat selection and press start, the additional vent fan motor gets turned on at the same time, and at the completion of the selected drying program, the dryer/inline fan is shut off together. You might have to check with your local electrical inspector branch to comfirm your direction. Brent@CanBC
varenovator
16 years ago
The GE Harmony dryer is designed for longer vent runs. If you go the their website, you can download the owners manual and installation instructions, which includes a table to determine if it fits your situation (as I recall, it has total vent runs vs number of 90 degree bends). Check it out, and see if it works.
jamesk
16 years ago
What you need is a dryer booster fan. It gets installed somewhere inline on your vent ducting. Fantech makes one that should fit the bill. It requires power, but it doesn't require any complicated wiring that ties it in with the dryer power. It has a pressure activated switch that turns it on when exhaust from the dryer causes an increase in air pressure along the vent duct.

Fantech makes top-quality very dependable products. I've been using their bathroom venting systems for years without a single problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fantech Dryer Booster Fans
gordonr
16 years ago
GE also makes a less expensive unit designed for long vent runs. It's their model DLSR483EEWW (electric version). I don't believe this ones uses dual motors so it must have a much more hefty single motor with a design geared towards higher static duct pressures.

I believe the other model with dual motors is the very high-end of the Kenmore Oasis (just look for the very most expensive models). There have been some posts regarding this machine in the past where people had some problems.

Here is a link that might be useful: GE® Long Vent Super 7.0 Cu. Ft. Capacity Electric Dryer
bntroberts
16 years ago
Kenmore Elite Oasis has a dual motor system that claims a venting range of 200ft. It also has a 7.5 cubic foot drum. However, it will cost you a bit more than 900 bucks.

Looking for a new dryer for long vent application

tourque

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ogsarg
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