Why your dryer takes forever to dry

Pull the dryer out. Disconnect the foil/aluminum hose from the back. Run the dryer on Air Fluff (no heat) for 30 seconds and feel the airflow at the dryer's exhaust port (NOT the wall vent).

Strong airflow? Your dryer's fine. The vent is restricted.

Weak airflow? Could be the dryer itself — blower wheel, lint trap housing buildup, or motor.

Most cases I see: strong airflow at the dryer, weak airflow at the wall. That means lint has built up in the venting between dryer and outdoors.

Clogged dryer vents cause:

• Long dry times — the obvious one. Two cycles instead of one means double the energy bill.
• Overheating — dryer's own thermal fuse trips, sometimes shutting it off mid-cycle.
• House fires — clogged vents are the #1 cause of dryer fires. Lint is extremely flammable.
• Mold/mildew in laundry rooms — moisture has nowhere to go.

This is the cheapest, most impactful preventive maintenance you can do.

If the run is short (under 10 ft) and accessible, you can DIY it:

1. Unplug dryer (and turn off gas valve if gas dryer).
2. Disconnect the hose at the dryer.
3. Vacuum out the dryer's exhaust port and the hose.
4. Go outside, remove the wall hood, and vacuum/brush from the outside in.
5. A flexible dryer-vent brush ($15 at any hardware store) makes this easy.
6. Reconnect everything, run a test cycle.

If the run is long, goes through walls or ceilings, or you're in a 2-story house with the dryer on the first floor and the vent terminating above the second floor — call us. We have the rotating brush kit and can clear 30+ ft runs.

If you confirmed strong airflow at the dryer's port and the vent is clean, but it's still taking forever, the issue is inside the dryer. Most common culprits:

• Heating element — partially burned-out elements heat less efficiently. Test with a multimeter.
• Thermal fuse / cycling thermostat — both regulate heat. Either can fail in a way that causes weak heating.
• Moisture sensor (sensor-dry models) — coated with fabric softener residue, causes the dryer to over- or under-dry.
• Blower wheel cracked — moves less air, longer dry times. Fairly rare.

See our full dryer repair guide for what we look at when we come out.

• Every load: clean the lint screen. Yes, every load.
• Every 3 months: vacuum out the lint screen housing (where the screen sits, beneath it).
• Every year: clean the full vent run from dryer to outside.
• Watch the wall hood: if there's frost in winter or lint hanging out, your vent is restricted.

Do this and your dryer will outlive most of its peers.