LESLIE: Eleanor in Hawaii has a problem with the dryer. What can we do for you today?
ELEANOR: Yes. I am not getting any lint in my lint screen on my electric clothes dryer.
TOM: OK.
ELEANOR: And before I call a repairman, I was wondering if there was something I, myself, could check to see what the problem might be.
TOM: Are you wearing lint-free clothes?
LESLIE: Seriously.
ELEANOR: (chuckles) No, no. (Tom chuckles)
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Yes, everything is spandex. That’s so strange.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Wow, that’s really interesting. I wonder if somehow the airflow is being blocked. Have you checked your dryer exhaust? Have you looked at where the dryer exhaust comes out the house to see if your …?
ELEANOR: No, no, I haven’t because I was waiting to get some man in here to help me move it.
TOM: (overlapping voices) OK. (Tom and Leslie chuckle)
ELEANOR: And it goes up through the attic, out the roof.
TOM: Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah. There’s got to be a blockage somewhere because first of all, that’s a really long way for a dryer exhaust duct to run. And when you run it up vertically – dryers are not generally designed to have enough air pressure to push that lint up really far like that, especially against gravity. And what tends to happen is they get clogged and then they can become dangerous. And if you have that kind of a dryer exhaust, it’s really critical that you have it cleaned at least once a year.
So I do think it’s a good opportunity for you to get a service person in to thoroughly clean it. They’re probably going to have to take it apart a bit but there are special brushes that fit in there and they actually fit up onto vacuums, too, so that you can loosen up the dust and suck it out all in one sort of move.
ELEANOR: I see. Yeah, that sounds like it might be the problem. The clothes seem to be drying OK but I haven’t used it for several days. But I thank you. I’ll certainly have someone come and check that out.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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