There are gas burning dryers, but I’ve only ever personally seen or used electric ones (resistive heaters), it’s there to vent the damp air outside. I’d personally like a heatpump dryer, as far as I know they don’t need any venting.
Heat pump dryers have a huge drawback though: the heat exchanger is woven through the condenser. So you cannot remove the condenser from the system. The lint which is not in the trap thus builds up in the condenser over time. Bad enough, but that’s also where the moisture goes. So after several years it will start to reek, and your laundry will start to reek, as the reheated air goes through there.
So, long story short, cleaning that mess: you’re going to have a bad time, as you can’t just remove the unit and cleanse it under running water. I would rather buy just a condenser dryer (or check up whether heat pump dryers became better, our model is 7 years old now, maybe they’re better nowadays).
There is a brush that came with it and the manual said the same, but after 5 years of family use, that stuff was not only in the front anymore. I had to use a pressure washer and some chlorine based detergent to get rid of everything (if I knew about an ozone generator back then I might’ve tried that against the odor).
YMMV. If you’re using it e.g. in a 2-person household you might never have that issue during the whole expected lifetime, but with our usage and especially all that babystuff, that happened, and I hated it 😅.
The vent is for the moisture-laden warm air that results from forcing hot air into it. Possible than vented dryers are less common in your region if you are not familiar? They are an incredibly simple design, and thus very cheap to make, but are significantly less energy efficient than modern condenser or heat-pump dryers.
Yeah looks like only heat pump driers are even allowed to be sold in the last 14 years here. But even before that, my family never had one that vented outside (Switzerland).
What is a dryer vent even for? Do dryers in North America burn gas, is it the exhaust?
There are gas burning dryers, but I’ve only ever personally seen or used electric ones (resistive heaters), it’s there to vent the damp air outside. I’d personally like a heatpump dryer, as far as I know they don’t need any venting.
Heat pump dryers have a huge drawback though: the heat exchanger is woven through the condenser. So you cannot remove the condenser from the system. The lint which is not in the trap thus builds up in the condenser over time. Bad enough, but that’s also where the moisture goes. So after several years it will start to reek, and your laundry will start to reek, as the reheated air goes through there.
So, long story short, cleaning that mess: you’re going to have a bad time, as you can’t just remove the unit and cleanse it under running water. I would rather buy just a condenser dryer (or check up whether heat pump dryers became better, our model is 7 years old now, maybe they’re better nowadays).
Oh yeah that’s unpleasant, good to know.
You just need to brush it out about once a year. Might need to partially take it apart depending on the model.
Looks like that in my machine
There is a brush that came with it and the manual said the same, but after 5 years of family use, that stuff was not only in the front anymore. I had to use a pressure washer and some chlorine based detergent to get rid of everything (if I knew about an ozone generator back then I might’ve tried that against the odor).
YMMV. If you’re using it e.g. in a 2-person household you might never have that issue during the whole expected lifetime, but with our usage and especially all that babystuff, that happened, and I hated it 😅.
Mine is a different style of condenser. For that, I’d probably brush it out a lot more often.
I just hang my clothes outside, inside if its raining and use a dehumidifier if necessary.
This is what my clothes would look like half the year if I dried them outside.
Ah, that might be it. Apparently only heatpump units can be sold here in Switzerland since 2012.
The vent is for the moisture-laden warm air that results from forcing hot air into it. Possible than vented dryers are less common in your region if you are not familiar? They are an incredibly simple design, and thus very cheap to make, but are significantly less energy efficient than modern condenser or heat-pump dryers.
Yeah looks like only heat pump driers are even allowed to be sold in the last 14 years here. But even before that, my family never had one that vented outside (Switzerland).