Dryer Vent Cleaning

Just cleaned mine yesterday. I use a vacuum to clean it out. I have a 20 foot hose that I feed through it and it does a great job.
 
As others have said i take the front off of the dryer and shop vac out the inside of the dryer, the clean the 3 foot section the goes through the floor to a 90 elbow. Then go outside the house and remove the louvers, turn the dryer on and use a drill and brush like the OP posted from Amazon and clean the twelve foot or so section back to the elbow. I personally don't like the washer dryer in the center of the house but no way to change it.
 
No need for a leaf blower. Here is the method that I have used with great success and works well IF you have a rigid straight pipe under the house.
  • Clean the dryer outlet and flex that connects to the dryer and reattach to dryer
  • Remove the louvers on the outside and assemble the vent brush
  • Set the empty dryer to NO heat and start
  • Go outside and spin the brush through the rigid pipe
  • Stand to the side and be prepared to get dirty
You will be surprised how much lint comes out of a seemingly clean vent system. YMMV
Its true.

The first few feet of pipe after the dryer connection is the worst area. Damp lint sticks there, and eventually dries, Then the dried baked on lint, holds new damp lint and so on. You can get a 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket of lint out of a 10-15 ft smooth pipe.
 
A shop vac really helps too. A few years back I was taking a CE class at unified fire investigations (think arson and cause investigators for insurance) they showed a film of a controlled fire caused by lint in a dryer, the fire was extremely hot and burned extremely fast (like a minute). Check your dryer vent ducts every 6 months, or more often if you have pets. The speed at which these fire start and propagate is unbelievable.
A shop vac works great, I use this kit that has an adapter, vac as the brush loosens and cleans the exhaust duct. ;)
 
My dryer vent is the absolute minimum length and below my dryer because I'm on second floor. Literally like two feet long, vent is by the floor.

Every once in awhile when I'm washing my car I'll blast the weather cover with the hose briefly to clean that since it has a hard turn down on it.
 
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