Shopvac or regular vacuum cleaner?

[ilyaz]

Noticed recently that the dryer in my house takes longer and longer to dry clothes. Realized that I never really cleaned it. Also noticed how much dust has accumulated everywhere in the utility room. Plus my allergies have gotten worse even though it's not spring.



So I am in the process of cleaning the inside of the dryer + as much of the utility room as I can (duct cleaning is a separate matter). Is a shopvac better than a regular "household" vacuum cleaner to clean up all the dust and debris in all the corners of the room? "Better" means both collecting it into the unit and keeping it there, i.e. not letting any of it getting into the air.

Thx!

P.S. Anyone ever tried cleaning a dryer vent with a leaf blower/vacuum? Did you use it in the blower mode or the vacuum mode? Our vent has an L shape: straight up from the dryer, 90 deg turn and straight to the outside. So I would expect it to get cleaned well, but maybe I am overly optimistic.

[Sirscrapalot]

Shop vac is always my choice. Great for sucking up all the dust an debris that comes around when I do my woodworking.

I use it all the time in my little shop for picking up screws that fall, dust, dirt, etc. I got 2. a big one I bought brand new an a little tiny one I got at a yard sale for 3 bucks. The little one is the one I use for screws an such, big one is saved for big jobs..like my woodworking, an water, etc.

Always clean your dryer vent! One of the main causes of home fires, save the lint if you go camping or do bonfires on your property, great starter.

I know you said vent, an I'm talking lint trap but still...lol.

Anyhow...shop vac all the way.

Sirscrapalot - Color me confuzzled.

[Abuilder]

It sounds to me like your vent tube and/or outside vent flap is plugged. remove the tube from the rear of the dryer and start there. Use a shopvac with a clean filter to pick up the mess.
NO don't use a leaf blower or you will spread the dust worse.

[jimicrk]

This might not be an option for everyone but it works well for me.
I take my dryer outside away from the house, remove the top and back and use an electric leaf blower.

[t00nces2]

Does the dryer vent through the wall or does it vent through the roof? If it vents through the wall, jest get a new mylar vent hose and clean the outside vent. If it vents through the roof, the best way is to take the vent pipe apart in the attic (provided there is room), and clean from above and below until the line is clean. Then, go up to the vent cap and pull and clean the vent cap and screen Usually best to clean from below the roof.

[ilyaz]

I use it all the time in my little shop for picking up screws that fall, dust, dirt, etc. I got 2. a big one I bought brand new an a little tiny one I got at a yard sale for 3 bucks. The little one is the one I use for screws an such, big one is saved for big jobs..like my woodworking, an water, etc.

I am thinking about this one. Would this be big, small or average for you?

[ilyaz]

NO don't use a leaf blower or you will spread the dust worse.

I took the dryer apart last night and pulled a ton of lint out of it. I disconnected the vent form the dryer and can feel crud at one of the vent, but I don't think it's completely clogged.

But if I remove the trap and use a vacuum (leaf/shopvac/whatever) from the outside to suck the lint out, why would this make things worse? The joints between the vent pieces are covered by alum tape fairly well so I don't think any dust should come through those.

[jimicrk]

I took the dryer apart last night and pulled a ton of lint out of it. I disconnected the vent form the dryer and can feel crud at one of the vent, but I don't think it's completely clogged.

But if I remove the trap and use a vacuum (leaf/shopvac/whatever) from the outside to suck the lint out, why would this make things worse? The joints between the vent pieces are covered by alum tape fairly well so I don't think any dust should come through those.

As long as you are using a vacuum or shop vac to suck the lint out you should be ok. You don't want to use a shop vac or a leaf blower to blow anything inside your house.

[Scrappah]

Maybe start with the basics ?

There's a dryer screen that needs to be pulled & cleaned every load or two. Gotta do that one or the dryer will plug up and catch fire.

You have to clean the vent hose coming out the back about once a year. That's always a difficult connection to make tight. You want to use a 4" hose clamp or long wire tie to hold the vent hose in place.

One of those weird things: Some of the dryers are set up to shoot straight out the back. Some are set up with a wye or a tee so that you can shoot to the side or even straight down as well as out the back. You just plug the outlet that you're not using. Anyway .... it's something to check. Sometimes those plugs will come loose and discharge straight into the room where the dryer is.

=======================

A shop vac is about the best thing for cleaning. I deal with a lot of toxic nasties so i use the filter AND the high performance(yellow) vac bags that you can buy for them. For regular dust the white vacuum cleaner bags would work well enough.

The big thing is to have some kind of filter inside the shop vac. That way the dust that you're picking up isn't getting picked up, going through the machine, and getting tossed back up into the air again.

[travistemple202020]

buy new give me old that usually works best factor in cost of shipping and merry Christmas lol

[Sirscrapalot]

I am thinking about this one. Would this be big, small or average for you?

That would be medium to me. 5+ = big 3 to 2 = Medium 1.5 to 1 - tiny to me.

The baby one I picked up was only a 1.5 gallon. My big one is a 5.

Just how I look at them, if there are bigger sizes, their not for me.

Good luck Ilyaz an let us know how it ends up working for you.

Sirscrapalot - Broom an a Vac are sitting around, when the Broom turns to the Vac an says..."You suck!".

[ilyaz]

Realized that the HDepot shopvac had to be ordered online. Need something today so got this instead. Got one of those for my mom for her birthday and she said it was great for house cleaning as much as car cleaning. So will use it tonight to clean up the dryer and the area around it.

[t00nces2]

I took the dryer apart last night and pulled a ton of lint out of it. I disconnected the vent form the dryer and can feel crud at one of the vent, but I don't think it's completely clogged.

But if I remove the trap and use a vacuum (leaf/shopvac/whatever) from the outside to suck the lint out, why would this make things worse? The joints between the vent pieces are covered by alum tape fairly well so I don't think any dust should come through those.

Kid, man, dude, bro, cuz.... If you can see that the vent piping has aluminum tape on it, pull the tape, separate the pieces, take them outside and rinse them out with a hose. Don't be lazy.

[Abuilder]

I took the dryer apart last night and pulled a ton of lint out of it. I disconnected the vent form the dryer and can feel crud at one of the vent, but I don't think it's completely clogged.

But if I remove the trap and use a vacuum (leaf/shopvac/whatever) from the outside to suck the lint out, why would this make things worse? The joints between the vent pieces are covered by alum tape fairly well so I don't think any dust should come through those.

OK I thought you were going to use the blower/vac inside the house.... Yikes!!
The bag on those things won't catch dust. If your allergies are bothering you now, use that thing inside and you will consider moving out. LOL

[ilyaz]

Kid, man, dude, bro, cuz.... If you can see that the vent piping has aluminum tape on it, pull the tape, separate the pieces, take them outside and rinse them out with a hose. Don't be lazy.

My utility room is very small. So, yeah, I could do that but I would have to be standing like this to reach all the pieces:

[hobo finds]

Several years ago our dryer was not working that well. My wife kept on me so I finally checked it out. As I was pulling the dryer out from the wall a squirrel came out of the dryer vent tubing from the roof but went back into the dryer tube. I called my dad and we blocked off the area so the squirrel could not run thru the house and opened the door to the carport. As I moved the flex line dryer hose it was crumbling and I saw maggots!?! Did not think much as I wanted the squirrel gone. Moved the dryer and out he ran.... Now to clean up the mess and the maggots? Started to vac them up removed the rest of the hose and then reached up into the dryer from where the hose attaches thought it was one of the little kids plastic bowling balls, but no... dead dried up squirrel! Still cant believe to this day my wife did not make me get a new dryer! LOL just cleaned it up...