While it may appear to be a convenient option to vent your dryer into your garage, it could also save you the trouble of crawling underneath your home or drilling a hole in the outside. Let’s see whether it’s a good idea to vent a dryer into a garage.
Can you vent the dryer into a garage? You cannot vent a dryer into a garage because it will create an environment for mold growth. When the hot and humid air enters the garage, the relative humidity level in the garage will increase. When the humidity level is more than 60 percent, mold can grow.
According to North Carolina Health Service experts, when the humidity level is high and there are cold condensing surfaces, mold will certainly grow. A garage may have surfaces that are colder than in the interior of a house. If you vent hot and humid air into the garage, the probability of mold forming is high.
If you have a gas dryer, venting it into your garage is not only an undesirable idea, but it’s also potentially deadly. The main purpose of your dryer is to evaporate moisture from clothes using heated air drawn through the interior.
Small portions of carbon monoxide are released by gas-fired dryers, thus it’s critical to properly vent them. Venting a gas dryer into an enclosed space can lead to an accumulation of carbon monoxide, which is potentially fatal to humans and animals.
In this blog post, you will get to know if you can vent the dryer into a garage in detail.
Is it ok to vent electric dryer into garage
It may be a tempting option to vent your dryer into your garage, and while it might save you the trouble of crawling beneath your home or drilling a hole in the exterior, it’s not as beneficial as it appears.
Your dryer’s main purpose is to remove moisture from clothes using heated air that is forced through the inside. For the heated, moist air inside your dryer to be discharged rather than hot and damp, it must constantly eject humid air as it accumulates. This is when your dryer’s vent comes in handy.
The goal of your dryer vent is to move hot, wet air out of your home. You’ll substantially enhance the chances of having a mold problem in your house if you direct that humidity into your garage. It’s usually tough to detect a mold problem in a garage once it starts, and by the time it appears, it may need extensive treatment.
According to Carolina Country, the combustion vent is the exhaust vent as well. You don’t want carbon monoxide or other products of combustion in your home.
Dryer vents, on the other hand, give off a lot of lint over time, and it’s certain to be blasted into your garage whenever you turn on your dryer. It will eventually track back into your house and cause lint dust to accumulate indoors. I recommend checking out the Nispira lint trap for dryers on Amazon by clicking here.
It’s not only a bad idea to vent a gas dryer into your garage, but it may also be deadly. Gas-powered dryers disburse tiny amounts of carbon monoxide, which must be properly vented to the outdoors. If you vent a gas dryer into an enclosed location, carbon monoxide might build-up, which is deadly to both people and animals. If you have a gas-fired dryer, install a carbon monoxide detector in your laundry room and maintain your dryer line clean every year. I recommend checking out the Kidde smoke and carbon monoxide detector on Amazon by clicking here.
Because of the extremely stringent building laws that exist for dryer vents, they may cause a home inspection to be compromised when you’re ready to sell. Venting a dryer into a garage or other enclosed space is likely to appear on an inspection report as one of the items required for repair before a property can be sold.
Does a dryer have to vent to the outside?
Because gas dryers displace carbon monoxide, they must vent to the outside. Electric dryers should also be allowed to vent outdoors.
According to Con Edison, one of the world’s largest energy delivery systems, you can develop a headache if you inhale tiny amounts of CO. Also, some people sense tightening in the chest, nausea, and extreme tiredness.
Indoor and outdoor vents keep the dryer from overheating. Nevertheless, you cannot interchange them. Dundas Jafine, a top supplier of air distribution systems, urges that only electric dryers be used with indoor dryer vents — never gas ones. Because carbon monoxide is released by gas dryers, exhaust must be vented to the outside.
Dryer vents eliminate the extra heat produced by a dryer during the drying cycle so that fires may be avoided. Indoor dryer vents are most often used in areas without outside wall access.
Outdoor dryer vents, on the other hand, can be used with any power supply. This design extends through an outside wall and ends in a dryer vent cap outside of your house.
Mice and other undesirable housemates may use your external dryer vent as an entryway, so be sure to properly connect up your dryer vent and select a pest-preventing cap. When it comes time to clean your exterior dryer vent, you’ll need to go outside.
Plastic dryer ducting should not be connected to indoor or outdoor dryer vents because it might lead to a fire risk.
It’s possible to vent electric dryers indoors, but you must be cautious because of the risk of deadly humidity and lint. However, you should ensure that there is adequate air movement in the room where you’ll be venting it, as well as excellent ventilation.
A dryer that does not vent outdoors may be the source of health issues and property damage (or the machine itself) as a result of too much moisture and lint. As a result, it’s critical to try to vent it if at all possible.
Otherwise, there are measures you may take, such as the utilization of lint traps and adequate ventilation to lower the danger if venting it is impossible. Give them a go or consider upgrading to a ventless system if they’re suitable for your needs.
Table illustrating where others have located their dryer vents:
| Best Places to Locate Your Dryer Vent | Percentage of Total Responses |
|---|---|
| Installing the dryer vent in the basement | 16% |
| Installing the dryer vent at floor level | 11% |
| Installing the dryer vent through the sidewall | 47% |
| Installing the dryer vent at the central garage wall | 5% |
| Installing dryer vent on the upper wall | 21% |
How do you install a dryer vent in the garage?
If you’re going to install a dryer vent, you’ll need an exterior connection. This is generally completed with a pipe extension that leads from your vent to the wall. Installing a vent in a dryer in the garage may be more challenging since you’ll have to extend the pipe system throughout the garage and place the end vent against the building.
You may want to have this vent installed by a professional, but if you know how to do basic home repairs, you may be able to install it yourself. In a few hours, complete this project following a few simple rules.
- Make the Vent Opening
You’ll need to make a hole in the exterior wall of your garage, or perhaps the door. Make a hole in the garage door with a drill and double-check that you’re drilling in the right spot. After verifying that you’ve drilled into the proper place, saw out the required hole using a hacksaw.
- Fit the Vent Hood
After that, you must place the vent hood over the hole. The interior and exterior plates should be attached using a screwdriver. You may find that you’ll need to carefully caulk around the edge of the vent hood to seal it and prevent drafts from infiltrating through the garage door after it’s in its proper location.
According to Proline Range Hoods, If you don’t want to remove the hood or if your house doesn’t have an attic, the best option is to vent vertically through the roof. If you can’t vent directly over your hood, try venting through a sidewall.
- Connect the Dryer Vent Kit
You can now attach the vent kit to the back of the dryer. Turn off the water at the main supply. Remove the machine’s back and then connect the vent to the connections. The vents’ connections should be specified in your dryer vent kit’s instructions, and they will show you where you need to place your vent.
- Connect the Pipes
Attach the first elbow-shaped pipe to the rear of the dryer while it’s on its side. Replace the dryer into position, pushing in the first straight piece and then replacing it. Continue adding pipes until you reach the top of your garage ceiling.
- Finishing
When the pipes are finished, turn the water back on and run the dryer for a few minutes. Check for any leaks in the pipe. If there is a problem, you may need to add more caulk, but you can continue to run the dryer as usual.
Here is a video outlining how to go about building a safe dryer vent:
How do you vent a dryer without a vent outside?
A dryer without a vent is not safe to operate. It’s not a good idea. Dryers require that the vents will let lint, heat and moisture be released from the inside of the vent so that they will be clear to vent correctly.
According to UAKC (Universal appliance and kitchen center), a ventless dryer does not require an exhaust; rather, it heats cooler air and absorbs moisture from it, with the help of a heat exchanger.
The action of a dryer vent is to create a force of suction that gets rid of the lint from garments and allows air to flow more smoothly. The dryer exhaust vent must direct the air directly to the outside so that lint and gases are sent beyond the house.
The reason you can’t run your dryer without a vent is that it needs adequate ventilation. To maintain the machine in good working order, most dryers require an effective dryer vent system to keep it operating efficiently.
Indoor dryer lint traps are one of the most popular ways to vent a dryer without having a vent to the outside.
The majority of lint traps on the market are detachable filters that are put behind the dryer’s flex vent. Most indoor lint traps contain one or two filters (and some water) to clean the combustible dust produced by dryers.
It’s possible to hang it on the wall or leave it on the ground next to the washer. Indoor lint traps can include safety vent flaps that open to release exhaust if a blockage is detected.
The major disadvantage of indoor lint traps is that they must be cleaned more frequently than traditional lint traps in the dryer. In addition, there’s a chance that some lint particles (as well as humidity) will enter the air inside your home.
If a window is accessible, the second option for venting a dryer without outside access is to just utilize it.
If this is going to be a long-term solution, I recommend purchasing a window dryer vent kit. These window dryer vent kits enable you to mount them on the bottom of a window and cover the sides to keep outdoor air from entering. It’s like a portable A/C window connection, but with a flapper.
How do I reroute my dryer vent from the garage to the outside?
If you’re upgrading your laundry room or moving your dryer, you’ll probably need to redirect the vent. The procedure may range from simple to complex, depending on where the dryer is and where you want it to vent.
- The Location
Determine where your dryer will go first. Because it is simpler and more efficient, finding an outside wall to set your dryer on is ideal. After that, you must choose where the exhaust from your dryer should go.
- Creating the Hole for Your New Vent
When you know where your vent will go, drill a pilot hole through the wall with a 0.25-inch bit from the interior of the house from inside. This hole will aid you in drilling the larger hole for the vent when you start.
- Installing the Vent
Next, insert the vent into the hole. Make sure the vent is flush with the outside surface. If you’re installing a vent through siding, mount it to a vinyl mounting block. After it’s in place, seal around the vents’ edges using caulk. Get back outside and caulk both sides of the vent on the inside as well.
- Running the Duct
The dryer and vent are now prepared for the ductwork. Wearing protective gloves while working with metal ductwork is prudent since it may be quite sharp. Begin by running the duct alongside the vent and work your way toward the dryer as you go.
- The Old Vent Hole
Your dryer vent has been relocated, and a hole has been created in your wall as a result. A small piece of wood cut to the right size will fit the bill. Any gaps should be caulk. To conceal the gap, repair any external construction (such as siding).
Dryer Chat
If you are thinking about venting a dryer into your garage, you need to think about should I drywall my garage also.
If you have vented your dryer into your garage, have you ever had the problem of the garage door opening on its own afterward?
Also, for the garage door, can I replace a garage door opener unit without changing the rails on it.
How long can a dryer vent be
When a vent line is too long, dryer exhaust gets trapped inside the vent line. Your clothing will take longer to dry and your dryer’s exterior will be warm. You’ll also have moisture in your house, which can be seen as condensation on your windows or ceiling.
The length of your dryer vent hose has a significant impact on the performance of your dryer. A long drier vent hose will lower the efficiency of your dryer, cause clothing to take longer to dry and affect automatically scheduled cycles in newer machines.
According to Waypoint Inspection, a rising player in the inspection industry, the length of a dryer vent should not be more than thirty five feet.
For each forty-five degree turn, the maximum length of the duct is reduced by two and a half feet, and for each ninety degree bend it is reduced by five feet
The transition duct is not included in the maximum length of the exhaust duct.
It also limits the amount of ceiling space that you may use. This implies vents should be as straight as possible and cannot exceed 35 feet in length. Because these 90-degree bends restrict airflow, any 90-degree turns reduce the 35-foot maximum by 5 feet.
