Restored with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas

From Lint Trap to Lifesaver: How Clean Vents Protect Your Home

• Tim Rhoades • Episode 7

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How Dangerous Are Clogged Dryer Vents And How Do You Address Them?

A quiet fire hazard hides behind the dryer, and most of us don’t think about it until clothes take forever to dry—or worse. We shine a light on clogged dryer vents: why they form, how they spark danger, and the simple steps that restore safe, efficient airflow. With Tim Rhodes from Premier Restoration of the Carolinas, we unpack what really causes vent blockages, from long, bend-heavy duct runs to those crinkly hoses that ripple and trap lint at every turn.

We get practical fast. You’ll learn the early warning signs—longer cycles, extra heat, weak airflow at the exterior cap—and how newer dryers use error codes to flag trouble while older models quietly overheat. Tim walks through a pro-grade cleaning the right way: clearing the interior and exterior, brushing and vacuuming the full run, and reassembling with care to avoid kinks. We also cover the upgrades that pay off immediately: 4-inch smooth metal ducting, fewer 90-degree turns, low-profile dryer boxes, and better wall terminations that keep air moving and pests out. Most fixes are available at big-box stores, and they’re easy to pair with a pro cleaning schedule.

The big takeaway is simple: airflow is safety. Twice-yearly vent cleanings cut fire risk, lower energy bills, and make laundry faster. Clean the lint screen every load, give the dryer space behind the wall, and don’t ignore airflow codes or hotter-than-normal surfaces. If you’ve been drying a load twice or smelling hot, dusty air, it’s time to act. Subscribe for more home protection tips, share this with a friend who’s always doing laundry, and leave a review to tell us your smartest dryer upgrade. If disaster strikes, call 888-847-2214 or visit online—when things go wrong, we make it right.

To learn more about Premier Restoration of the Carolinas visit:
https://www.PremierRestorationoftheCarolinas.com
Premier Restoration of the Carolinas
888-847-2214

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Restor with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas, where we turn floods, fires, and moldy mayhem into clean slates and fresh starts. Hosted by Tim Rhodes, the guy who's been knee-deep in disaster, so you don't have to be. If your home or business has been through it, don't panic. Tim's here to talk recovery, restoration, and everything in between. Let's get things restored.

SPEAKER_02:

It's one of the most overlooked fire hazards in the home. In this episode, we uncover the risks of clogged dryer vents and how to keep your home safe and efficient. Welcome back, everybody. Skip Monty here, co-slash producer, back in the studio with owner of Premier Restorations of the Carolinas and our local professional, Tim Rhodes. Tim, how's it going? Good, how are you, Skip? Doing great. Doing great. Glad to be back with you. So let's talk about how dangerous clogged dryer vents really are and how how you address them. Because that's something that I, you know, deal with a lot. Sometimes it's hard to remember to clean those things out. How do you, how dangerous are they?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, if you Google, everybody Googles these days, so if you Google, you know, fires in the US, it's like, you know, on average, it's like annually is like 16,000 house fires, and like 92% of them are caused by dryer vents. Because of the the dryer vents are are are backed up and full and and it just creates a fire hazard.

SPEAKER_02:

92%. Wow. I've actually I know somebody who I go to church with and they had that exact thing happen. They started a load of clothes in the dryer and left, and their house burned to the ground before they got home. And it was a new house too. So what what causes dryer vents to to become clogged in the first place?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's uh it's a combination of things. It's you know how it's built, you know, how long the line is, how many curves are in it. There's a there's a number of different reasons why what would cause it to to clog up really fast. You know, how much lint is is in your clothes when you run them through the dryer, uh how often you have it done. There's there's several different reasons.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I was gonna ask how serious is the fire risk, but it's pretty serious, right? I mean it could burn your house down.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah, it can it can.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, what are some of the uh the the warning signs that homeowners should look out for for that?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, when it starts getting you know, when your dryer vent starts getting full, it's gonna it's gonna take longer to dry. It's just not gonna dry like it normally did, you know. The newer dryers, they're pretty they're pretty smart. They'll throw a code and they'll quit if if they don't have proper airflow. But the older dryers, you know, they'll just it takes longer to dry, which creates a lot more heat, and that's that's where you get a lot of your fires from.

SPEAKER_02:

Hmm. So newer newer dryers will will automatically shut down if they sense that the air is not getting through.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I'm not saying all of them will, but a lot of people that call us for dryer vent cleaning is because their dryer is throwing a code and it'll shut off because it don't have proper airflow.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh wow. Wow. Well, so warning sign to look for. If if if your clothes aren't drying as fast as they used to, you need to you need to get a get a professional out to check it out. Speaking of that, how often should dryer vents be professionally cleaned by somebody like like you guys?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, they recommend twice a year, every six months.

SPEAKER_02:

Twice a year. Now when you when you come out to to clean somebody's dryer vents, do you go ahead and schedule another visit six months out, or how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01:

No, we we let them schedule. That's that's up to them. It's it's their house. They they can call us back when they feel like they need us.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that is something I did not know twice a year. I was thinking annually, but twice a year. Very good to know. Well, what walk us through the process, your process for clearing and inspecting vents. How does that work? What that what's what's it entailed in you how you do that?

SPEAKER_01:

So we clean it from the outside and the inside. We'll we'll pull your dryer out and we'll we'll clean it from the inside, we'll clean the back of your dryer, we'll make sure the back of the dryer is you know lint-free, and then we'll clean the line and then we'll put it all back together.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, something I try to do when I every time I use the dryer, there's a a lint screen, I guess, that you pull out and you can clean up. And sometimes that thing is thick. I mean, that would I I would assume would contribute to that. Is that like the main cause?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's got, you know, it's uh if when that gets full, you know, it it it creates uh less airflow for the dryer. So, you know, I would recommend cleaning that lint trap every time you do dry uh do do do laundry.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm sure if most people are like me, they probably don't do that. I do it every time I think about it, and I try to think about it every time I use the dryer, but it you know, I'm not I'm not real good at remembering that. So as far as uh preventative solutions to to keep your your dryer vent from from uh clogging up and and potentially causing a fire, do you have any preventative solution or maintenance plans that could help uh prevent that from happening?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we try to we try to use smooth metal lines. We I don't like to use the the the soft lines with the wire in it because it just creates ripples and that's just place for lint to catch. So I like to see four-inch hard line running out as straight as you can make it. Take all the 90s out that you can. Now you're gonna have some 90s, it just it happens, but if you can get it as straight as you can get it, it just makes the dryers just work so much better.

SPEAKER_02:

So let me ask you this. I know I've been in this house about five years, but the the hose on the back of my, or not hose, but the the exhaust on the back of my dryer is that crinkle, like you said, that crinkle hose or whatever. Is that is that bad? If it's because it could like it's so long it it can't it can't be possibly be straight because there's about eight inches between the wall and the dryer.

SPEAKER_01:

No, and you know, I'm not saying it's bad. There's some circumstances you just have to have that because you know you can't get behind them to hook it up, so you have to hook it up with the dryer out, and you just have to slide it back in. But you you just have to when you slide it in, you have to make sure that you know it's as straight as it can be. Um, and they make some really cool dryer vents that you can hook up to try to eliminate that. They have good products out today to try to eliminate all the the S curves for just that cause that you're talking about right there. So, you know, if if that is a problem, there's there's products to try to help so you know solve it.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, is that something readily available that you can pick up at Lowe's or Home Depot, or is that something we need to come to you for?

SPEAKER_01:

No, you can pick it up at you can look pick it up at either store. Um, yeah, you they they carry a a large section of products.

SPEAKER_02:

Huh. Did not know that. I need to check that out myself. Otherwise, I'm gonna be calling you to my house, which you know, that'd be all right too. Well, Tim, thanks for shedding light on that. I learned a lot. Good advice for our listeners and viewers. Twice a year. You need to get your driver vents cleaned out at least twice a year, or you are risking burning your house down, not to scare anybody, but that's that's a fact, right? I mean, it could happen. Yeah, I mean it's it's recommended twice a year. All right, very good. Well, Tim, thanks again. Appreciate you clearing that up, and we'll catch you next time for more ways to restore and protect your home with Premier Restorations of the Carolinas.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks so much and have a great rest of the week.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in to restore with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas. If disaster strikes, don't Google, call the pros. You can reach Tim at 888-847-2214. Or visit us online at Premier Restoration of the Carolinas.com. We'll bring the tools, the team, and maybe even the shop back. Because when things go wrong, we make it right.