Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

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RMO87
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Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by RMO87 »

Our electric clothes dryer, a Maytag Bravos just a couple years old, is taking over three hours to fully dry a load of towels. I have recently removed a bunch of lint that had built up, but it didn't improve the drying speed. Any idea what may be going on, what else to check, etc.?

Thanks in advance!
Ryan
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hAvAAck
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by hAvAAck »

The lint you removed, did you blow it out of the vent that most likely ends at the roof?
Lynette
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Lynette »

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dpc
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by dpc »

As mentioned, check the outside vent opening to make sure it is clear. You could also try to wash the in-dryer filter in some detergent. If you have a fabric softener in the dryer, it can build up on the filter - even though the filter looks clean. If you run some water on the filter, you may see it bead up.

Is the dryer getting as warm as normal on the outside? It's possible a heating element has failed.
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McCharley
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by McCharley »

If it is heating up OK then it is almost certainly lint buildup, as others have suggested. You need to clear out the vent pipe and where it joins the machine.

This would be a great opportunity for you to purchase a borescope, as you know every home fixit issue is an excuse to buy a tool. :D (It is essentially an endoscope -- a lighted camera on a long, flexible probe.)
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Sheepdog
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Sheepdog »

It is likely that lint has built up in the dryer exhaust pipe. Clean it out and you probably will have it dry properly.
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cheese_breath
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by cheese_breath »

dpc wrote:As mentioned, check the outside vent opening to make sure it is clear.
Also check the vent cover isn't bent. My SIL had the same problem in his new house, and it turned out a workman had put his ladder against the vent cover and bent it partially shut so the flap couldn't open all the way.
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justus
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by justus »

Agree with all the other folk. It's probably your vent. When was the last time you had the vent cleaned? My parents didn't even realize that was a thing for about 20 years. Once they told me what was wrong, I called a technician. He took a look and as it turns out, the pipe was completely full of water and no air was passing through. Had it replaced and the dryer's now fine.
Jim180
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Jim180 »

I agree with the others that it's probably a clogged vent, however a faulty thermostat or heating element cannot be ruled out. Those parts can be tested with a multimeter. Replacement parts can be purchased. No need for a new dryer.
TT
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by TT »

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Kaufmanrider
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Kaufmanrider »

We had that problem. Our dryer vent goes up about 30 plus feet through the attic and vents on the roof. I cleaned the vent line but still had the problem. I climbed the roof and found that lint had gotten wet and was gummy preventing the roof vent flap from opening more then a small crack. Worked but because of the location/placement of the vent and line I might install an inline vent exhaust to help push the air up and out. And it would give me an in line vent trap.
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bertilak
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by bertilak »

McCharley wrote:If it is heating up OK then it is almost certainly lint buildup, as others have suggested. You need to clear out the vent pipe and where it joins the machine.

This would be a great opportunity for you to purchase a borescope, as you know every home fixit issue is an excuse to buy a tool. :D (It is essentially an endoscope -- a lighted camera on a long, flexible probe.)
Please see my new thread Borescope for inspecting dryer vents and AC ducts
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magellan
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by magellan »

IMO, these dryer vent cleaning kits are great:
http://www.amazon.com/s/?search-alias=a ... %20cleaner

Our dryer is in the middle of the house on the second floor and has over 25' of vent and some 90 degree turns. I got one of these a couple of years ago and have used it twice with great results.

I made a splice in the vent in the attic that I open when I do the cleaning to keep the length of the snake down to a reasonable amount.

After about 30 minutes with this thing, the vent is clear to the outside and good to go.

Jim
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Mister Whale
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Mister Whale »

I had to pull the cover off of my dryer to retrieve a sock that was stuck in the blower motor. When I did I took the opportunity to vacuum out many pounds of lint that lined the ducting and coated the internals. Made a big difference in dry time and was easy to do. There are YouTube videos for almost everything these days.
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pfrank
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by pfrank »

First you clean out any lint from the machine and duct. Then check to make sure the outlet is clear (i.e., no birds, chipmunks, etc.). If you still have problems, look at the autodry or moisture sensor. Run the towels on a timed dry cycle and an autodry cycle. If it happens only on an autodry cycle, then you sensor is messed up. Fabric softener sheets can build up a residue on the sensor over time. Clean it with alcohol. See what happens. I ran into that problem one time. Now it works great.

You can get the service manual for your dryer and answers for your particular model on appliancejunk.com

Good luck!
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RMO87
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by RMO87 »

It isn't dryer sheet related, as we don't use them. I think it is time to schedule a dryer vent cleaning, as the duct from the upstairs laundry room to the back of the house is rather long and is not simply a straight shot (there is at least one curve in the duct involved). I'm sure there is some excess lint built up over the 6 1/2 years of being in the house.

Ryan
robertalpert
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by robertalpert »

In addition to checking out the vent piping;

UNPLUG THE DRYER --- Then check out the impeller located inside of the drier (perhaps arms length from the air exit opening). Cleaning a lint-encrusted impeller can help.
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BigFoot48
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by BigFoot48 »

A dryer story. Earlier this year I was at my mother-in-law's house, where my in-laws had lived since about 1995. A Del Webb home build in about 1990. The cable guy was out installing HD and climbed up to look into the attic from the garage and said "Oh my god" when he poked his head through the hatch.

When I climbed up to see what he was speaking of I discovered the dryer in the garage had been venting into the attic since the house was built. For about 10'-20' in all directions from the vent pipe that ended about 1' above the attic floor, the dryer lint was about 1"-3" deep. There was a hole in the roof deck where the vent should have been extended to and gone out to the roof but it was covered with tar paper and tile. Inspecting the same home model in her Sun City West neighborhood we could not find any others with a missing vent cap on the roof.

I found a person that specialized in dryer vent repairs on our next visit and he installed the missing pipe and vent cap for about $300 and said people would be surprised at how often he has to do this, even on new custom homes. Prior to his visit I had spent an hour using a shop vac to clean up as much as the lint as I could reach, and got rid of probably 95% of it. Filled a large garbage bag.

The good news was she said they never had any problems drying clothes, and the lint never ignited!
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Kaufmanrider
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Kaufmanrider »

RMO87 wrote:It isn't dryer sheet related, as we don't use them. I think it is time to schedule a dryer vent cleaning, as the duct from the upstairs laundry room to the back of the house is rather long and is not simply a straight shot (there is at least one curve in the duct involved). I'm sure there is some excess lint built up over the 6 1/2 years of being in the house.

Ryan
This past year I used my gas leaf blower and fired air through the vent lines starting at the dryer connection. Seemed to work. :D
asterix0
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by asterix0 »

Try this site to diagnose your problem http://www.repairclinic.com. Their repair videos are excellent and product specific. Then buy the parts from them (or Amazon which is sometimes cheaper).
nordlead
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by nordlead »

Kaufmanrider wrote:
RMO87 wrote:It isn't dryer sheet related, as we don't use them. I think it is time to schedule a dryer vent cleaning, as the duct from the upstairs laundry room to the back of the house is rather long and is not simply a straight shot (there is at least one curve in the duct involved). I'm sure there is some excess lint built up over the 6 1/2 years of being in the house.

Ryan
This past year I used my gas leaf blower and fired air through the vent lines starting at the dryer connection. Seemed to work. :D
I was just going to suggest this. I did this with an electric leaf blower and it worked really well. I recovered a large amount of frozen lint outside of my house since I did it in the middle of the winter. It would probably work even better in the summer when the lint isn't frozen into hard chunks.

I also stuck a shop vac hose in as far as it would go to vacuum up anything it could. It probably isn't as clean as some of those scrubbers, but I'm sure I reset the clock from years of lint to months of lint.
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pennstater2005
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by pennstater2005 »

If it stopped drying or only gets lightly warm you could check the high limit switch. Our dryer did that recently so I removed the back and a wire had melted away from the switch, which had melted as well. Dryer was so old I just bought new.
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Fletch
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Fletch »

Some additional information with a focus on "fires" and "saving energy".

http://www.ehow.com/about_6610652_cloth ... afety.html

... Fletch
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Toons
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by Toons »

I used to have a plastic dryer vent hose that was about 10 feet long.I would take a leaf blower every six months a clean it out.That solved the slow drying issue for us. :happy
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cheese_breath
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Re: Clothes Dryer drying very slowly

Post by cheese_breath »

Toons wrote:I used to have a plastic dryer vent hose that was about 10 feet long.I would take a leaf blower every six months a clean it out.That solved the slow drying issue for us. :happy
Glad you said "used to have" because plastic hoses can catch fire. Dryer vent pipes should always be metal.

disclaimer... I had a plastic hose for many years too without any problems. Guess I was lucky. I have metal now.
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