Dryer Vent Duct Replacement

my dryer takes a long time to dry and we've also had 2 lint fires in the last few months. I had a repairman come fix the dryer the last time we had the lint fire and he said that the vent line was way too long and it was the wrong kind of tubing, its a flexible tubing with a mix of thin metal and plastic.

if anyone could recommend a handyman/contractor to come take a look at the set up

thanks!

We replace them. Phil Masucci Plumbing 973-763-8420 

Philtheplumber.net 

@phil_masucci do you clean vents? I see that question asked every now and then here, and I need it.

Anyone who replaces the vent line would also clean everything at that time. At least, they would if they are worth their price.

The repairman was right in saying that shortening that line will greatly reduce the time it takes to dry your clothes. It increases the efficiency enormously, although I'm not really sure why. My mother's dryer used to take hours to dry any load, and when we had the line shortened it made laundry so much easier to do. It used to take all morning just to do a load, but after the fix it took only half an hour to dry a load. Go for it!

For what it's worth, I had that kind of vent hose and shortened it myself with a pair of wire cutters and scissors, then cleaned out what was left and reattached it. (Compressing the hose makes it easy to clean with a stiff brush and a handheld vacuum.) It took less than 10 minutes.

I am not terribly handy and found it very easy to do, and amazingly effective at cutting drying time. You can find videos on youtube. I think rigid lines are recommended now, but as a short term solution it might be worth a try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phLzCTc-1TM

If you like banjo music, there's this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CeNnNU_Q4M

And if you decide you want to detail your dryer, you can take it apart like these guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukiWExfj_RI

The washer and dryer in our old house were so difficult to move in and out of their position that when the time came to try to clean the vent line, we actually preferred to take the cover off the vent from outside the house and stick the vacuum cleaner hose down it from that end, as well as doing what we could from inside the dryer.

Just go to Home Depot and get semi-rigid dryer duct and install it yourself. It's really quite easy.