Venting the Dryer Dilemma

11 years ago

Hi everyone,

I hope you can help me, my head is spinning and I'm getting more confused by the minute.

We are moving to a new house, laundry room looks like the picture attached. Now that we are shopping for a washer and dryer we just noticed that the laundry room doesn't have the hole in the wall to vent the dryer!! First thought was to move the washer and dryer to the wall on the right (because it's the only one that the outdoor is on the other side) and creating a hole. Then we learned moving the dryer and washer will cost a lot of money because of all the water piping and electric plugs and stuff . So we thought of keeping it in place and just bend the hose 90 degree and to create the hole very low on the right wall. When we went to shop the sale guy told us that we shouldn't bend the hose, and if we ask anyone they will say the same, and we are asking for trouble if we do it. He told us that the hole has to be above the dryer and that is the only safe way. Hubby told him if it's above the dryer than we still need to bend the hose twice, first next to the dryer, second next to the hole. The guy said that is OK but to bend it to the right is another thing! is this true? and is it really dangerous to bend it. If not is it better to create the hole high on the right wall (then we will need to bend the hose 3 times) or low (we will only need to bend it once). Sorry for all the stupid questions but every house I lived in before was ready and I didn't need to think about these things before.

One more point, husband doesn't want the headache and said we should just buy a vent-less dryer. The problem I've read soo many conflicting reviews that I'm worried that dryer will not function as well as the regular dryer.

Thanks in advance, and honestly I don't know how people made decisions before the internet LOL.

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Alia Al
Original Author

11 years ago

I made is sound soo easy, but actually i'm conflicted because there are cabinets between the washer/dryer and the wall.

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Comments (10)

Karl Lonieski
11 years ago
When you decide on a dryer, check the installation manual on-line...most dryers permit up to 4 90 degree bends, although it reduces e maximum length slightly...also, you can't use past hose...I should be rigid metal...it's not a major project...fairly simple actually....
Condenser dryers are not as efficient and considerably mor expensive...
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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Alia Al
Original Author
11 years ago
Ottlane you helped alot, thanks so much. One more question please what is "past hose"?
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gordonr, If there's nothing else I've learned during the course of my renovations, I've learned that everything ends up being more complicated than you expect. Once you open up the ceiling or the wall, there always seems to be something in the way of what you want to do. A floor joist where the tub drain needed to be, pipes where I wanted recessed lights to go, and now the recessed light over the tub is where it would make sense to run the duct. I can hardly wait to get to the kitchen renovation! I spoke with a rep in Miele's technical service group yesterday. Initially he was telling me he thought what I wanted to do entailed too long a stretch of duct - that it would reduce the performance of the dryer. I told him I expected that it would not be optimal performance, but what I was trying to determine was whether it would reduce it to the extent that a condenser dryer would have the same performance. He didn't seem to understand what I was getting at, so I gave an example: If the vented model has 15% better performance than the condenser model and the venting I'm doing reduces performance by 15%, then the condenser model would be generally equivalent, but if the vented dryer's performance is 50% greater, the same 15% reduction in performance would still mean the vented dryer was a better choice. I asked if he could give me any information about how much better the vented dryer's performance was than the condenser model and how much the venting I was considering would reduce the vented dryer's performance. At that point, he said he wanted to talk with one of the senior technical reps and put me on hold. When he came back, he told me that the dryer was rated for up to 60 feet (which I already knew) and that I should be fine with what I was planning on doing. He also told me that the sr. rep had indicated that having a condenser dryer in a closet could be problematic because it puts off a lot more heat than a vented dryer - you'd need a lot more air circulation into the closet with a condenser dryer. The closet I'll be putting the w/d into is 68" wide by 29" deep, so the extra heat and air circulation need may not have been as much of an issue for me as it might be for others with a more confined space. One learning that I took away from this: if you start to get the sense that the technical or customer service person you're talking to may not be as knowledgeable as you'd like, ask to talk with a senior rep. Like anywhere else, initial phone calls will be answered by more junior staff who will route the more complicated issues to more experienced staff. I've decided to go with a vented dryer, and now just need to decide between the Miele and the Asko. I'll let everyone know which one I end up with. Jan
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Megan Morrill-Denton, several people here offering a lot of good points. Since you've cleaned your ducting, I can't think of any other ways to improve drying, and you've mentioned you really don't have any length to the outside except 10" - though if you've got the 'corrugated' type ducting, straight galvanized might help a little. You've also mentioned that the ducting to the dryer isn't kinked... so I've no further help on that other than to suggest you use electric foil tape when you connect it to the dryer - we only had the clamp initially and it did a poor job of holding the duct leak-free to the dryer. You mentioned a cold floor... we had that issue - the whole room actually. When we pulled out our old dryer, I noted cold air flooding from the corrugated duct coming out from the wall (actually placed a baggie over it, taped it close to keep cold air from flooding into the room - the baggie stayed puffed with air until we replaced the outdoor vent cap). I can't really speak for the Heartland style outdoor vent other than to say once we installed that, I noticed the baggie no longer inflated with air from the outside. That was a plus for us. We previously had the slat-style outdoor vent. As dadoes mentioned, it needs painted if you don't want it to stick out like a sore thumb (it's rather big), and I used a can of plastic approved Krylon Fusion paint from Lowe's for ours. Keeping any part of your ducting and vent cap clear of lint is important, and reduces fire hazards - sounds like you are doing this. Good luck on your situation.
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We're struggling with this same dilemma at the moment. W/D in narrow closet with bifold doors in kitchen of our old house. We've been here a year and are ready to finally tackle this issue. Our home came with a Bosch set that fit but are compact size ... meaning many many small loads. We've considered cutting the recess into the wall behind them, and moving the bifold door track out and we already use the slim dryer exhaust extension. But, even so, as ERINSEAN mentioned, we still have to leave washer drain hose space between the washer and the wall. We've noticed that our Bosch washer has a much smaller drain hose than our former Whirlpool set so if we buy a non-Bosch set, we'll likely need to allow even more space between the washer and wall. Not completely ready to give up, but pretty much resigned ourselves to a future of compact machines.
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We have a ventless drier and like it fine, but we had one before with the tank that had to be emptied, and didn't like it (not sure if the results were not as good because of the tank, or just wasn't as good a drier). But: note that good Euro-style washers are quite aggressive at spinning out water, so the washing machine matters. We also use drying racks for a lot of our washing - the clothes out of the washer are already pretty dry - and so the combination helps keep it manageable; sometimes we don't use the drier at all. Partly drying on racks also speeds things up, and we tend to use the drier for only the parts of the washing we need sooner. Like a lot of things, small adjustment in use may make the most difference. We do washing frequently, so almost never find waiting a constraint. But there's no question doing large amounts of washing and drying all at once is less feasible; we just find we work around it without really trying. (With the occasional hassle like needing to get a sick and upset child's stuffed toy/sleeping companion dry quickly - boy, that was touch and go). Note also that some locations in USA are very humid, parts of Europe are in heating mode much of the year and humidity naturally low; YMMV depending on where you are.
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dadoes
11 years ago
Your appliance salesman is seriously confused and misinformed.

There is NO requirement that the wall opening be above the dryer. That's just plain silly.

Bends in the exhaust ducting ARE permissible, but must be kept to a minimum number. Every 90* bend adds resistance to the airflow and reduces the allowable maximum length of the ducting. Check your dryer's installation instructions for details, it should include explicit details on length vs. number of bends. Use SOLID-FLUME ducting, not the expandable/accordion stuff which adds resistance to the airflow. (I think that's to what ottlane is referring above -- old-style expandable ducting ("past hose").

Based on your picture, I'd vent it out that right wall (which is directly to the outdoors), through the cabinet beneath the sink, cutting 4" holes in the cabinetry panels as needed. The machines will have to be moved forward from the wall by 6" or so to accommodate the ducting (and the bend behind the dryer).

Whoever designed your laundry room is an idiot (apologies for the comment if it was you and/or hubby!) for not facilitating proper exhausting of the dryer ... but that's not unusual. It would have been so much more reasonable and accommodating to place the machines ON the right wall and rearrange the cabinets accordingly.

An alternative is swap the washer and dryer positions (if you can get longer water supply and drain hoses for the washer to reach the connections) so the dryer ducting does't have to pass behind the washer.

OR ... you could consider running the exhaust up INSIDE the wall behind the dryer, into the attic and to the right for outdoors access. There are connection flumes available that recess into the wall so the dryer can sit more flush to the rear wall. The questions on this method are the additional expense, whether attic access is possible, and the impediment in-wall and through-the-attic exhausting presents to the future need to clean the ducting (it WILL accumulate lint residue and need to be cleaned).

Don't even think about a ventless dryer. There are very few on the market and they are troublesome.
Alia Al
Original Author
11 years ago
dadoes I can't thank you enough, your post eased my mind.

I totally agree with you, who ever designed the room wasn't thinking straight, and don't worry we bought the house that way.

Will update when the room is done. Thanks again.
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sparky823
11 years ago
Dadoes,If this room isnt upstairs and I take it isnt, couldnt they vent the dryer down through the floor right behind the dryer? Then run rigid duct to the outside wall. It could fasten to the joist to keep it off the ground? This would prevent cutting through all the cabinets but then would have to work under the house. Just a thought.
lee676
11 years ago
I was thinking this too - most dryers have an option to vent downwards. The only issue is now you have a big hole in the floor, which inevitably won't quite line up with the replacement dryer bought 10 years later. (I'm not sure how this works when pedestals are used - can you vent downward and then backward and out the house inside the pedestal?)

Also, the two pictures provided appear to show the washer and dryer reversed. In the photo, it looks like the dryer is at the left, so running a duct past the washer and through the cabinet wall could get difficult; instead, vent behind to between wall studs or leftwardto an almost immediate 90 degree bend outdoors, hidden under some extra 12" cabinet to the left of the laundry machines.
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dadoes
11 years ago
I would still opt for through the cabinets and out the wall as being the shortest, straightest path ... and more accessible when the ducting needs to be cleaned.
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nerdyshopper
11 years ago
In my home I have a crawl space under the house where the duct can run to the outside. You don't state what is below the laundry room. Either a crawl apace or a bacement would be suitable, especially if the ouside wall is above ground level I have about a 25 foot run to the outside and the prevous owner had allowed lint to plug the entire 25 feet of duct. I took it down and put in 6" furnace duct with adapters to go from 4" to 6" at each end. The air flow is slower but there is plenty of room for a lot of lint before the duct plugs.
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nerdyshopper
11 years ago
In my home I have a crawl space under the house where the duct can run to the outside. You don't state what is below the laundry room. Either a crawl apace or a bacement would be suitable, especially if the ouside wall is above ground level I have about a 25 foot run to the outside and the prevous owner had allowed lint to plug the entire 25 feet of duct. I took it down and put in 6" furnace duct with adapters to go from 4" to 6" at each end. The air flow is slower but there is plenty of room for a lot of lint before the duct plugs.
0

Venting the Dryer Dilemma

Alia Al
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Karl Lonieski

Alia Al
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Venting the Dryer Dilemma

Alia AlOriginal Author

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Karl Lonieski

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Alia Al
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