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Leaf blower cleans dryer vent

If you understand the title, skip to the second paragraph of this article. Unlike in India where there is abundant sun throughout the year to dry washed cloths outdoor, in the North East United States indoor cloth drying equipments are a necessity. Washing machines and dryers are standard equipments in every household. Natural gas or electricity is used as heating source for the dryers. Hot air is blown in a chamber where wet cloths spin. The air absorbs moisture in the cloths and leave out of the equipment and the house through an exhaust pipe. Duct work to let the hot air exit out of the building is part of standard plumbing. When clothes dry at high temperature most fabrics leave behind fluffy cotton lint in the dryer and the exhaust vent. One of the leading causes of house fire in the U.S is the fire caused by overheated dryer vents.

Recently, I was reminded of a house fire of a colleague because of clogged dryer vent. It was time to cleanup the dryer vent since I haven't done that ever. There are ton of products out there that are meant to clean the dryer vents. I picked up one of those and found it was pretty inefficient. Brush attached to a long flexible cord goes hardly two feet inside the vent. Beyond that it is impossible to push the brush since there is no strong hold and the cord bends instead of pushing the brush inside the vent. Then I tried using the vacuum cleaner. Again I could clean up about two feet on both ends of the vent, but much of the lint is in the middle around the bend of the vent, I could see it with a flash light. After much frustration, I was about to give up.

In a flash of thought, it occurred to me to try using my leaf blower from one end. Viola! That worked like magic

The blower pushes the lint in the vent from one end and moves it out through the other leaving the vent nice and clean. The job was well done in few seconds. Not knowing how efficient this will be I ended up having to vacuum the inside of the house near the dryer where the dirt piled up. Next time I am planning to tie a plastic bag or something on the dryer end of the vent to reduce the mess. Or perhaps I should try blowing air from the dryer end.

Well, turns out Leaf blowers are much more powerful compared to the dryer fans. Long time back I learned that with the right tools, any work can get done with much less effort and incredibly well. Apparently, sometimes we have to find the right tool ourselves.