*
I’m retrofitting a booster fan (Fantech DBF4XL)and new 4″duct to a client’s stupidly vented clothes dryer. Optimal install specs want the fan as close to outlet as possible. In this case this would put the fan in an inhospitable attic where it would never be maintained. Preferred install puts fan close to the dryer, in a garage where it could be accessed with an 8′ ladder. Specs allow this but call for a secondary lint trap to prevent lifting moist lint into the fan. I’ve searched the web and found nada. Tomorrow I’ll call Fantech. In the meantime, has anybody installed, bought or fabricated something that sounds like the aforementioned secondary (in-line) lint trap?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
The FHB Podcast crew takes a closer look at an interesting roof.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
I just answered my own question. I'm posting this for the archives. Fantech 800 747-1762, http://www.fantech-us.com, sells a secondary lint filter, part#DBLT4, $40, but you'll have to buy it through a distributor. Call them for the one nearest you.
*I would be very interested to know how this whole affair works when you get it done. I have been looking at that fan since the rough-in phase. Had to run mine up the wall and through the laundry attic. about 18' with 2 ells. Seems to work fine, but the fan would likely make a improvement.
*Hi-I bought the Fantech DBF 4 XL. It's for 4" duct and is rated at 173cfm. I still have to contact Maytag to see what the fan on their Quiet Plus II dryer is rated at. Specs that came with fan indicate that if booster is rated at more cfm than the dryer's onboard fan, the booster can cavitate the onboard fan and decrease the dryer's efficiency by removing air from the dryer too quickly. The specs also indicated the need for a lint filter if the fan is to be located within 15 linear ft. of the dryer outlet. After considering the whole install, I realized that a well-designed install would include a lint trap/cleanout at the bottom of the first vertical run (if there is one,) anyway, as this is where the lint that wasn't caught by the dryer filter will accumulate. In this case, the laundry room shares a common wall with the garage so the lint trap/cleanout will be perfectly accessible from the garage side without having to move appliances. In an install where there is no access without moving the dryer, one might just consider moving the dryer every? and vaccuming the ell. Whether this would happen before the dryer lost major efficiency due to an increasingly restricted duct is anybody's guess.The booster fan, in my reconsidered install will be placed in the attic, but directly adjacent to the attic door. It has a pressure-sensitive switch that detects increased pressure in the duct after the onboard fan cycles on and so, is both automatic and wired independent of the dryer. The lint trap/cleanout will be placed at the bottom of the plumb run just above the ell, so the ell can be easily vaccumed from the cleanout. Overall length of duct is about 60'. The house was built by good ole' boys of 20" diameter logs when the logs were, apparently, "MOIST." As a result, now that the logs are no longer moist, the house is no longer tight, with sigodlin jambs and re-chinked chinks that before they were re-chinked made you realize that these logs aren't so much stacked, as standing on the stilts of the Timberlok fasteners that the logs were screwed together with. If the house were tight, such a fan would likely cause other issues to be considered. Overall cost of this retrofit, including: fan, trap, duct and fittings, breaker and wire for fan circuit and labor to open and close wall, install cleanout and duct, mount fan and establish new circuit will be in the $800-$900 range.Is it worth it so as not to have to wade around in dustbunnies in the garage? What do you think?
*I think for that kind of money I might learn to pick up a few dust bunnies. The situation you describe sounds like my house. The laundry backs up to the garage, with a firewall between the two. Therefore I can't legally dump my dryer into the garage. food for thought. In my case the dryer works well enough that I don't see any point in changing, but I'm still curious to see how much improvement you get. Likely a bunch in a 60' run.
*Well are dustbunnies the big concern? Or, is the moisture being kicked into the garage to be further infiltrated into the vehicle fuel tanks a bigger problem? Depending on where you are and the refueling habits of the owners the extra moisture in the fuel tanks can and does cause fuel line freezing.That can be overcome by using a fuel additive but why when the problem can be eliminated by just not dumping there.How about the extra corrosion on other things in the garage from the extra moisture in the air there?In general you may get the idea I'm not a fan of dumping dryer exhaust anywhere inside the structure. It belongs outside.
*Hi-We're in Arizona. The abovementioned project is a humongo cabin at 8500' elevation. The garage has a 50' wide face exposed to the south, is 2000sq. ft in plan by 12' to the ceiling. That # of cubic ft. in these conditions can absorb an almost unbelievable amt. of moisture. So, believe it or not, the inconvenience of the lint was the issue. I just completed the booster-fan install yesterday. Works great. The pressure switch has a time delay so the fan evacuates the duct after the dryer cycles off. The Fantech products have a 5 yr. warranty and are commercial-grade.As I've mentioned in an earlier post, here in the high-elevation arid southwest, interior moisture issues are not isomorphic with moisture issues outside this region. This climate is actually too forgiving of indiscretion with materials and technique, and the learning curve of most tradespeople I've come in contact with is flat to falling. In other words, if it's got a roof over it, is porous and exposed to the sun, it will not rot, almost no matter what.
*Good Grief Freelance! If you live in that climate why are you wasting money and energy on a dryer?!? You live in one already.
*The customer is boss. If they are put off by another in a long list of stupidities perpetrated by the original "builder," in this case, the dryer venting onto a set of steps, then my job is to design and install a high-quality solution. In theory, clothes out on the line is a quaint option. Rest assured, if I felt my customer could include this skirt and apron approach into their preoccupied lifestyle, I'd have been installing ringbolts, sprung pullies and plastic coated wire instead of duct.
*Ever try to convince your wife that hanging clothes out to dry in the snow could be fun? Mine didn't buy it.
*
I'm retrofitting a booster fan (Fantech DBF4XL)and new 4"duct to a client's stupidly vented clothes dryer. Optimal install specs want the fan as close to outlet as possible. In this case this would put the fan in an inhospitable attic where it would never be maintained. Preferred install puts fan close to the dryer, in a garage where it could be accessed with an 8' ladder. Specs allow this but call for a secondary lint trap to prevent lifting moist lint into the fan. I've searched the web and found nada. Tomorrow I'll call Fantech. In the meantime, has anybody installed, bought or fabricated something that sounds like the aforementioned secondary (in-line) lint trap?