Broken dryer duct

Question

I noticed it was very humid in my laundry room. Mostly worried about ruining my wife's $400 duvet (don't get me started) I turned off the dryer. I noticed there was also a fair amount of lint kind of floating around the room. My first guess was that the dryer duct to the wall had been broken. I was correct. Everything on the wall is just fine, but the flexible tubing going from the dryer to the wall has a large hole.

Is this something I can just wrap up with duct tape? The tube itself is shiny, does this mean I need to use tin foil or something?

Answer 1

If you go to your local hardware store you will be able to find a tape made for air ducts and high heat areas. It would be something like this 3M High Temperature Flue Tape.

But also a new dryer vent is probably going to be cheaper to buy than the roll of tape when you only need one piece from the entire roll. So if you can easily get to the back of your dryer (and probably you need to get there anyway to fix the hole) then go ahead and replace the entire vent. They make flexible dryer vents which easily attach to the back of your dryer and the opposite wall. (This assumes you do not have a very long run from your dryer to the wall. If you do then just go with the tape.)

Answer 2

So the solution ended up being even easier than I thought. Because the connection from the dryer to the wall was flexible, and it's only inches away, there was LOTS of room left on the tubing. So, I just cut off the end where the break was (it was only a few inches from the wall) and tightened the coupling back on. Sure beats going to the hardware store (at 2 in the morning!) The laundry is almost done now, which should make for a happy wife to not have to do a bunch after a 6 week trip! :) Thanks anyway though!