It it good to hear that others have plants doing well near the clothes dryer vent. I have a small area in almost complete shade that the dryer vents into. So far, I've just been using it to store pots and potting soil, but I would really like to plant some things there instead. I had been warned off of planting anythign there and was told that the hot air then followed by cool temps during the winter would kill anything I put there. Any suggestions for shade plants that might work in this area? It is a pretty small area, maybe 3 X 3.

dadoes: "Fault 6 refers to the inner sliding door panel and latch/release mechanism on the drum, not the outer loading lid." Hmm, well I never saw the fault code displayed on the LCD panel and the dryer never refused to start up, so I have no idea when this problem occurred, and certainly did nothing to correct it. dadoes: "E-mail sent again. :-)" And received, thank you very much! kcred: "I've only done one load since the cleaning, but I like to think the dryer is now more efficient, but it also might be wishful thinking on my part. I'm just glad it's clean as I'm a firm believer in preventative maintenance." I never thought about dryer maintenance before I had this no heat problem with my dryer. I emptied the lint bucket after every load, cleaned out the indoor lint trap water reservoir, but that was about it. Now I know to religiously check the vent for lint build up (once I get a "real" one installed especially,) as well as removing the lint bucket housing from time to time to clean out the lint from there as well. kcred: "BTW, I use that flexible-foil dryer vent hose. Haven't ever had a problem with it." I never thought there was a problem with it, either, and many, many people use the foil vent hoses. I don't believe any dryer manufacturers recommend using this sort of venting, however, and it certainly isn't UL listed, if that is important to you; Fisher & Paykell's user manual, (which I have finally read thoroughly :-o ) specifically says not to use it (and to never vent your dryer indoors, either - good thing I never needed warranty service because I bet my entire set up would have voided the warranty!) I have now read many articles as well as posts on various DIY, etc., forums written by people that also recommend against using the foil vent tubes. From what I have read, the problems caused by these foil vents is primarily due to air turbulence/resistance caused by the ridges in the foil ducting cutting down on the dryer's efficiency; even more important, the ridges - and the potential sagging or kinking of the aluminum foil venting - can also lead to a build up of lint, which can cause both a significant blockage of the vent and maybe even a fire. I'm not sure how one goes about cleaning out an aluminum foil vent tube, either; I would think one of the "normal" vent cleaning brushes would catch on all of the metal wire spiraling through the tube as well as tearing the foil itself. I think it all depends upon your venting configuration. In the picture, you can see that dadoes uses an aluminum vent, but it is just barely extended, there can be little air turbulence, it doesn't sag at all and is probably very easy to clean out. My vent will need to go about 8-10 ft to get to an outside wall so I intend to use rigid metal pipe for my vent. Holly Here is a link that might be useful: Reasons why foil vent should not be used

This thread is old, but still seems relevant. I've looked elsewhere on this subject, but don't see good answers to my situation. My dryer sits in the middle of my townhouse on the 2nd (top) floor. The dryer vent goes up through a wall from near floor level, and currently terminates at the floor in the attic with no outside vent!! It is pretty near the center of the attic. There are units to both sides of me, and the roofs are complex, alternating pitch from unit to unit. My options for how to route the vent all seem poor. I can't go horizontally between the attic floor joists to the side of my unit, because that would take me into my neighbor. I could go parallel to the attic floor and out the back wall. But that would be a long run (15' in the attic plus the run up to the attic and the turn. And it would have to be over the joists. That seems problematic since I use the attic for storage. And it gets cold there, so I'm worried about condensation in such a long run. Or, I can go pretty much straight up through the roof. The vent is very near the center line, so it would have to jog at least a little bit to go out to the side of the ridge. That would be the shortest run - about 8' from the attic floor. But I live in MA, so I'm worried about what happens when it snows. This last winter we had *lots* of snow, and lots of ice dams. What happens if the roof vent is entirely covered in snow? Will the dryer melt through the snow? (It will probably be less of a problem if the vent is near the ridge. Snow doesn't often remain there for very long.) I came across a product by dryerjack.com that has a version for "moderate" snow, but apparently not for 2' of snow. Of course right now the dryer is venting into the attic, which contributes to the ice dams, so almost anything is likely to be an improvement. Another concern I have is cleaning the vent. If it is up on the roof it will be very difficult to access to clean. I have no equipment to get up there. Even exiting on the end wall two stories up would be a problem, but somewhat less so. I have seen pictures of inline lint traps. If I could put one of those in the attic then I would be able to clean it out more easily. But would that add too much back pressure? I have a neighbor who cleans dryer vents by blowing them out (from the inside) with a leaf blower. But doing that would be logistically difficult. I would have to move the dryer well out of the way. It is a gas dryer, and I think I would have to disconnect the gas to move it far enough. I guess I could potentially disconnect the vent inside the attic and blow it out from there, though that would do nothing for the part in the laundry wall.

We are on the cusp of placing orders for our appliances. So I wandered back by this thread and noticed the new responses. Mikelock, I love your "after" photo. We're about the finalize our layout, and I keep considering going under-counter instead of stacked. It's a lot of fun to see another real life installation. That extra run of counter must be so nice. Chris Park, thanks for your perspective on how the condensing dryer is performing for you. I was scared off initially by the many negative comments about condensing dryers, but I later became more hopeful when I noticed that many comments note that clothes come out with only an initial dampness - if that makes sense. We're finally going to place our order this week, after much heel dragging from me. The plan for a long time has been Blomberg units (the heat pump dryer sounds like a good idea), although in the 11th hour there is some temptation to order Asko units (condensing dryer) that would match the SS appliances. I guess we'll panic and select one soon!