ideas for freeing space behind dryer

15 years ago

I have an electric dryer sitting alongside my washer in my basement. An elbow comes out the bottom bending up to a 52" metal tube which at it's top bends again and exits the home. The nature of the 4" metal tube causes the dryer to stick out an extra 4"...which is valuable space I'd like to reclaim. The way the back of the dryer is made it looks like I could pick up 3" of space if, where the elbow connects to the dryer base, instead of beding up, it bent right or left for about 2 feet until it got either side of the dryer, THEN bent up...of course after going uo 52" it would need to bend back 2 foot laterally in one direction to get back to where the hole is where it exits. God, I hope you can visualize this...its sort of like I am locked at the bottom of the dyer where the vent exits and at the top where it exists the house but instead of going straight up I want to first run to one side of the dryer...I can then shove the dryer back 3"...or so it appears.

I am guessing all these bends are not code compliant or safe....? If not, any other ideas or is everyone with a dryer essentially doomed to loose 36" in depth.

Thanks!

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Comments (13)

faucetman886
15 years ago
Rather than trying to complicate the vent routing how about building a shelf behind the appliances to fill in the space and give you some usable flat surface for detergents, fabric softener, etc or to use to for decorative items?
joed
15 years ago
Route the pipe inside the wall.
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Sarah, no worries at all! Believe me, I belabored this myself. You're exactly right. The units could move back in my setup. In my photo above that says "see the hose back there," it's showing the hose not entirely tucked into the space that is designed for it. So Miele has correct dimensions, and that drawing is exactly as they are built. The thing is that I put the box with plumbing on the right (as you're looking at the doors of the machines,) and I believe it's a shorter route to put them on the left. See the Miele drawing of the back of the machine and that will make more sense. I was going to ask you anyway, since you're space is tight but you can move a wall, where do you want the shutoff to be? I remember you said you really needed a plumber/contractor to work it all out, so I wonder if you have found one. Truth be told, you'll be able to work it all out in terms of the dimensions, but knowing where your existing electrical and water supply/drain are will be necessary. I think I told you before that I was sold on the Miele because there's no issue for access when maintaining the machines. Whirlpool evidently had the brilliant idea to place the lint clean-out in the back for their HP dryer, which means paying a tech at least 2X per year to pull the thing out just to clean it. Anyway... Also remember you're referencing in your first image the requirements for putting them in a closet. If you're not doing that, don't worry. And if you need more photos of the setup I have, please don't hesitate to ask. As I hear the laundry humming now, I think about all the questions I had before making the leap. It was a lot of work, and certainly expense too, but it's all worth it, and I hope it will be for you as well :-) p.s. Do you have a local dealer? That might help your questions. I asked mine to stop by while we were in construction, which he gladly did. In retrospect, I should have asked earlier. Those are the people who will be installing and servicing (hopefully not) those machines. And yes they're pricey....you do get some extra help for that. Good luck and keep me posted.
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andrelaplume2
Original Author
15 years ago
1)Shelf idea is doable...just that there is a walk thru to the other part of the basement if I were to box in the appliances, the walk thru gets a little tight.

2) Its a cement wall...can not run pipe thru...
sparkywannabe
15 years ago
Here are a couple of low profile dryer vent kits.

http://www.improvementscatalog.com/home/improvements/792922974-dryer-periscope-vent.html

http://www.dundasjafine.com/products/ventkits/spacesaver.html
andrelaplume2
Original Author
15 years ago
nice (links). The thing is that the back of my dryer has a 3" protusion over the 'upper' portion of it. There is 3" of empty space on the lower half where the vent is. Perhaps with the parts shown on the link it would be possible to connect to the vent at the bottom of the dryer and occupy only the open 3" of space on the lower half. If that worked I'd actually pick up 4". The only trouble is, again, iregardles of the vent material, I'd essentially have to come out the back of the dryer, make a right until I was alongside the dryer then go up 52" to my joists, make a left and go out the existing hole. I have to believe all those turns are not code compliant.
heimert
15 years ago
If I understand your problem correctly, the "dryerbox" is a solution to get back some space. Basically you recess the elbows into the wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: dryerbox
andrelaplume2
Original Author
15 years ago
My 'wall' is poured concrete! Thanks...will check out the link!
pjb999
15 years ago
Just remember you lose a certain amount of allowed footage of the vent exhaust for every turn or angle. Gentle angles are best, and less dust will be trapped.
andrelaplume2
Original Author
15 years ago
yes AND I just found out screws should not have been used through the 90 degree bends into the straight run...just tape!
davidandkasie
15 years ago
around here no one uses, nor have they ever used, rigid duct coming off the dryer. get the flex stuff, hook it to the dryer, route it to the side and then up. jsut don't kink it if mash it flat so that the air is relatively unrestriced.

i don't know if your local codes prohibit this or not, but how are they gonna know unless you have them come in.
brickeyee
15 years ago
The codes allow a single piece of flex duct up to 8 feet in length and NOT concealed for a dryer vent.

At least us the flex metal stuff, the plastic spiral stuff is a real fire hazard.

Try to remember to clean the duct at least once a year.

You should use as few screws as possible, pop rivets (use the same material as the duct) are much better.
andrelaplume2
Original Author
15 years ago
I think I'll just stay with all metal as opposed to that foil stuff.
hendricus
15 years ago
Original: 90 deg. out back of dryer and up
90 deg. at top and back into wall to outside.

Proposed: 90 deg. to right or left
90 deg. up
90 deg. to left or right to return
90 deg. into wall to outside

Another
Proposed: 90 deg. to right or left and run up at an angle
45 deg. up
45 deg. to left or right starting above dryer
90 deg. into wall to outside

Adds only one 90 deg. to original.

ideas for freeing space behind dryer

Comments (13)

faucetman886

joed

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ideas for freeing space behind dryer

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