http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=353x2790As a lead-in to the upcoming
Groundhog's Day with Chief S itting Bull, I offer this campfire, even though it's a little dated, three months.
darkstar (1000+ posts) Wed Nov-18-09 08:38 PM
Original message
Has anyone experimented w/ piping dryer vents into house in the winter?
Our washer/dryer combo is in the kitchen of our new house and it vents into garage. Pumping it out in winter seems wasteful. I figured some kind of Y split with a damper to shunt it outside in summer, in during winter with filter stage, would be easy to construct. But then I thought I can't be the first to have this thought. Has anyone experimented with this? Does anyone make an off the shelf piece? Tips?
NMDemDist2 (1000+ posts) Wed Nov-18-09 09:51 PM
Response to Original message
1. there's a LOT of moisture in that heat if you live in the desert maybe........
Warpy (1000+ posts) Fri Nov-20-09 11:47 AM
#09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009; THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE
Response to Reply #1
4. I live in the desert and it's a bad idea here, too
Warpy (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-19-09 05:55 PM
#09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009; THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE
Response to Original message
2. I had the dryer vent hose become disconnected and didn't discover it until the windows were fogged up and I'd lost a stack of photographs that were stored near the dryer. It was an expensive lesson.
In addition, it's a gas dryer and pumping the fumes along with the moist air into the house is a bad idea.
Venting into the garage and warming the garage is probably the best you're going to do.
marybourg (653 posts) Thu Nov-19-09 08:21 PM
Response to Original message
3. And as my back patio which is always covered in lint will attest, that air ain't fit to breathe even tho I clean my lint filter after every wash day (altho not after every wash, I admit
franksolich cleans the lint filter after every use.
It's not that hard to do, cleaning the lint filter after every use.
Warpy (1000+ posts) Sat Nov-21-09 01:35 PM
#09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009; THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE
Response to Original message
5. I've done a bit more thinking and you might be able to use duct work to build a heat exchanger, a closed loop with fins to radiate the heat back into the house.
You'd have a problem with condensation, though, and would need a trap at the bottom with a screw plug so you could drain the water out after each load.
IMO, the heat you'd regain would be minimal, although if you do a lot of loads of drying every week it could possibly add up enough to make a difference.
I still think the best idea is to warm the garage. It's always nicer to change the oil in a warmer garage.
here_is_to_hope (1000+ posts) Sat Nov-21-09 02:29 PM
Response to Original message
6. I vent mine into a small cold frame and it really helps the greens grow through the winter.
ConcernedCanuk (1000+ posts) Sat Nov-21-09 09:30 PM
Response to Original message
7. My brother used to do that - vent to the inside.
His was in the basement, along with a wood-stove which is pretty dry heat
no problems with moisture.
As for the lint, he just cut up one of his wife's pantyhose, doubled up the legs, and tie wrapped them to the outlet . . .
just a WEE problem, but his wife settled down after a bit . . .
bvar22 (1000+ posts) Sun Nov-22-09 01:49 PM
Response to Original message
8. Never EVER vent a GAS dryer into the house !
Let me repeat:
Never EVER vent a GAS dryer into the house.
The potential for Carbon Monoxide poisoning is VERY high.
On the other Hand, we have been venting out electric dryer into our house during Winter for the last 2 years without problems.
We moved to very rural Central Arkansas (Ouachita Mountains) in 2006.
We heat with a wood stove, and use the electric dryer as a supplemental source of heat. We plan our drying to supplement the Wood stove. (We dry clothes at night or early mornings).
Our cabin is fairly open floor plan, so the humidity from the dryer doesn't build up in a closed area, and the extra humidity is appreciated.
Also, there is just the two of us here which amounts to about 1 or two load of clothes per week.
In The Winter, we simply disconnect the vent hose and put a knee high stocking over the end of the hose. We keep the knee high stocking and dryer filter very clean. The addition of lint or dust to the air has not been noticeable.
We will probably buy one of those $5 dollar dryer Exhaust Diverter Boxes (Google) , or build one ourselves this Winter.
Once Again:
Never EVER vent a GAS dryer into your house.
In The Summer, we use this:
after which a photograph of wet underwear hanging out to dry in the open air
Solar Powered Clothes Dryer
Toxic Emissions = 0
Carbon Footprint = 0
Dollars to Big Energy = 0
Tax Dollars to fund Wars/Wall Street = 0
Matilda (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-24-09 02:12 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. Very interested to see your clothesline.
Every free-standing house in Australia has its "Hills Hoist" - a rotary clothesline outside, with four lines in concentric circles - you hang little things on the inside lines, and big things outside.
I've read that many local councils in the States won't allow people to dry their clothes outside though - is that true?
DrDan (1000+ posts) Sat Nov-28-09 06:21 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. that is true
but it is more a Homeowner Association matter than a city government issue (as far as I know - I know of no local communities restricting the use of outdoor lines).
We use a line. I really like the feel of sheets and t-shirts that have dried outside. And - it has cut down significantly on my electricity charges.
franksolich uses a natural clothes-dryer too.
It's a lie--invented by lazy people, or wimps--that one can't use one in the winter to dry laundry.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Sat Nov-28-09 03:22 PM
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Reply #9
11. Luckily, we live in a rural area and can dry our clothes out on a line. I gave my dryer away three years ago to cut down on energy consumption and it's been great!
Probably hippyhubby Wild Bill made her give it away because it used electricity.
After all, as hippyhubby told the wife, she couldn't have a chest freezer because it uses electricity, and electricity sometimes goes out.
Actually, Mrs. Alfred Packer's not getting a chest freezer because she's married to Wild Bill, who's a stingy old tightwad like Ebenezer Scrooge, who also didn't do Christmas.
kestrel91316 (1000+ posts) Fri Dec-11-09 01:41 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. "Councils" ie govenrment doesn't restrict clotheslines in the US....it's those EVIL individual-private-property-rights-obsessed homeowners' associations in residential developments that are the problem. IIRC, in some states or locales, there are actually laws now that say HOA's cannot prohibit clotheslines. We need it codified in the US Constitution, IMHO!
Warpy (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-12-09 02:59 PM
#09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009; THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE
Response to Reply #8
13. I'd love a solar powered dryer but for months out of the year in the desert we have wind and wind blown grit and unless I want everything dyed adobe brown, I have to use the damn dryer.
I do throw the rag rugs out on the porch to dry, though. The air is so dry here that they dry in a couple of hours even in winter.
We have wind in Nebraska too; probably more wind than what blows in New Mexico.
I think the defrocked warped primitive's just looking for excuses to not use a solar powered dryer.
