Our dryer vents up through our attic. I feel compelled every few years to have the pipe cleaned because I worry about it clogging with lint and starting a fire. The guy we used last time is not in business anymore. Anyone have the skills?

Mine is set up the same way, and it is annoying.

My vent pipe is easy to remove and I take an extendable duster and run it up and down in the pipe. Then I get my shop vac and suck everything out. With the piece at the roof, I just reach my hand in and pull all the lent out. I have had to replace that screen once in four years.

All takes about 5 minutes. and is the wonderful price of FREE.

djalk--any chance you would want to come clean mine? I cannot see me getting on the roof and my husband is way afraid of heights. I will pay you.

Not to hijack or take your potential worker away, Montegobay, but I would pay too! I need to have that done and don't know who does it.

cap'n'mac was looking for some odd jobs recently. Maybe he could do this?

Mac, are you on the forum tonight?

The last time I lookedup the ext stack on ours, the lint stopped very close to the bottom and turn from horizontal to vertical.

It does not go far from the dryer outlet normally.

Quality Carpet Cleaning will do this for you. 690-7760. They have cleaned my carpets for years, and when my dryer vent needed cleaning, my appliance repair guy (Deryl Emola, another great guy!) recommended them, ironically.

Great company, great people.

I am here, late to the game.

But, Quality does a good job, and has working people who need to eat. And, I got $30 for my shop vac over the w/e.

As someone else said - just pull the dryer and washer back - and climb back there. I unhook the dryer exhaust, and clean things with a vacuum behind the washer/dryer and in the tube if needed. I then use a small stepladder to climb back out.

I did it 12 months after being in my new house - but it didn't even need it. I then did it after another 4 years. Still wasn't that bad.

When I moved out of an apartment after living there for 2 years, it was horrendous. So, you can never tell

Also, not to hijack the thread but, that is a very inefficient venting system. It also leads to problems as the lint has to be carried 15-20 feet upwards to exit the vent. It invariably gets stuck in the vent pipe which could lead to overheating of the dryer and potentially a fire since most people never even think to check it. This is eliminated if the builder thinks to install the vent pipe in the foundation and vent horizontally rather than vertically. That's just one of those things to look for when choosing a good builder.

Mont-sure

Ok, I pulled the dryer away from the wall and unhooked the vent hose. What a linty mess back there. Everything was dusty. Of course, part of it could be because our kitty litter box is in there too creating dust.There was a huge chunk of lint attached to the hose at the entrance to the wall.

It really only took me ten minutes to vacuum the back of the dryer and inside the hose. The vent in the wall turns up almost immediately so I would assume that not much lint gets up there. I will check out the attic vent tomorrow, but after cleaning today I am not that worried about it. I will make sure I vacuum this at least once a year. Everyone should do this. It really is a fire waiting to happen.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.