this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
2 points (100.0% liked)

Home Improvement

8909 readers
1 users here now

Home Improvement

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

EDIT: I've attached a rough map of the situation. The laundry room is the little room in the middle. The red dot is where the dryer vents into the garage.

My house is weird. Built mid-1970s. Upper Midwest.

One of the weird/annoying things about my house is the fact that the clothes dryer vent opens up into the house's attached garage rather than venting outside. This is an electric dryer, so the vent is just hot wet air -- nothing like CO or anything.

Ideally, I'd like the dryer to vent to the outside and not turn my garage into a stagnant humid swamp every time I dry clothes (most days, actually, because I have many children). But the laundry room isn't situated in a way that makes outside venting easy. It's on the main level, right in the middle of the floorplan. No basement access, so I can't add ductwork through the floor. No usable ceiling access either.

What options do I have to make this mess annoying? Add venting to the garage somehow?

top 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Curator@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They're not without tradeoffs, but ventless dryers (aka heat pump dryers) have made a lot of strides the past few years. They tend to take longer than traditional dryers I believe, but use 30% less electricity overall, and don't need a vent. There's an $840 tax credit in the inflation reduction act that covers them, but as far as I can find it hasn't been rolled out yet.

[–] paholg@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

I have a Miele washer/heat pump dryer combo. From my experience, the dryer is about the same as what I'm used to from a conventional dryer (~45 minutes), but the washer takes a lot longer. As I understand it, the washer does a more thorough spin cycle so the dryer has to do less work.

That said, I have been very happy with mine.

[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

TIL that ventless dryers exist. Interesting, thanks.

[–] Bjornir@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

That is all we have in France, and I believe in Europe. I have never seen a dryer vent outside of on videos.

[–] ciferecaNinjo@fedia.io 1 points 1 year ago

They barely exist in the US. Europe is far ahead in this regard. In Europe you won’t even find one of those extremely wasteful vented dryers in most shops.

I did some research on the US market for ventless dryers. The pricing is terrible but if climate matters to you, you will take the hit. One thing that really disturbed me is among the few that are available in the US, only a couple of them is not part of the #internetOfShit. So if you want a dryer that does not connect to the network options are very limited. All the non-discontinued Miele models are “smart”, but this one might be worth a look because it’s 110v and not designed to be on a network. Some Whirlpool ones are wifi-free (this was the biggest one I found but it requires 220v). And indeed it’s hard to find ventless dryers in normal sizes. Most are ½ the size of vented dryers.

(edit)
If you don’t find a suitable ventless dryer, consider putting a dehumidifier in a closet & make that the drying closet. You could perhaps rig up a drain so you don’t have to empty tanks of water.

[–] jarvis2323@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

How about something like a pet door opening in the garage door. Run the vent along the floor of the left side of the garage

[–] DrAnthony@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Venting into the garage is going to lead to a very bad time (mold, lint, ect). Honestly, it may be cheaper to just go with a heat pump based dryer. They are far more energy efficient, areeasier onyour clothes, and don't need a vent at all. Now it's not all sunshine and roses, they are more expensive than traditional models, take longer to dry, the collected water needs dumped out afterwards, and don't heat your clothes up (so no hot towels or wrinkle releasing). That said, I think it would be the best compromise for your situation.

[–] hglman@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Line dry your clothes. Then you dont have the itsue .