Choosing Appliances You Will Adore

How To Deep Clean Your Dryer Lint Trap

13 May 2016 by Melanie Hanson

The excess lint that collects in your dryer can be causing the clothes in your dryer to take a lot longer to dry. It can make your dryer heat up a little too hot and damage your clothing, or worse - excess lint buildup is a fire hazard. That should be reason enough to get going and clean that dryer lint trap. The safety of your family could be at risk, so follow the instructions below to clean your lint trap thoroughly and properly.

Here's What You'll Need:

• Vacuum (with attachments)
• Dryer lint brush
• Screwdriver 
• Nut driver

Instructions:

*Unplug your dryer before attempting to deep clean your dryer lint trap.

1. First, open up your dryer (depending on your type of dryer, some traps are located in the top), then clean out as much of the lint as possible using your hands. 
2. Next, take your vacuum with the crevice tool to vacuum the lint screen. Then use it to vacuum as much of the lint trap itself that you can. If your attachment can't get into it all the way, don't worry. You can use the lint brush to maneuver inside the trap to clean it out deeper. The lint brush should be pretty flexible so you can get really deep inside the lint trap. If the lint brush comes out with a lot of lint, repeat this step.
3. Once the inside of the trap is clean, it's time to move to the back of your dryer. Take the flexible dryer vent tube off of the back of the dryer using either the screwdriver or a nut driver (depending on how it is attached), then use either a larger dryer vent brush or the small lint brush to clean out as much lint as possible. Using the vacuum may cause it to clog with as much lint as there may be in your vent. Try to get as much lint out with the lint brushes first. 
4. Next, take off the flexible vent at the wall and repeat the step above to clean it out.
5. Finally, move outside to clean out the dryer trap outside. Remove the outer covering so you have full access to the dryer vent. This may require you to cut caulking or use a screwdriver to take off the outer covering. Once you have clear access, take the lint brush to remove as much lint as you can from the vent.
6. Replace all of the parts you removed so your dryer is back in working order.

Deep cleaning your dryer lint trap should be done a minimum of once per year, or more depending on how much laundry you do. Be sure to clean the lint trap inside your dryer before drying each load of laundry to help prevent too much buildup in the flexible vent at the back of the dryer. If your dryer is still having trouble drying, contact an appliance repair company like American Appliance INC to check it out.