22
First off, you misunderstand the intention of the extractor fan. It is not to remove hot air. It is to remove moisture from the air, and that's done to help protect against mold and mildew buildup. This is particularly important in bathrooms where the door is usually left shut.
(It still helps with open door bathrooms too but in those cases the ...
21
Perhaps a leafblower (or two?) might clean it out a bit?
Also maybe get advice on how to make the outside vent area fire resistant if the tube does catch fire.
19
TL;DR:
It is explicitly not to code to exhaust into the attic or to use foil pipe
It's a bad idea anyway because it puts smoke, grease and warm humid air into your attic which can cause mold growth
2015 International Residential Code, Chapter 15:
M1501.1 Outdoor discharge.
The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged to ...
11
Add both a secondary lint trap and a dryer duct booster fan. Fantech and Tjernlund are a couple brands to help you start your search.
Also, replacing any easily accessible flexible duct with rigid ducts can help prevent lint from building up.
Finally, check that the exhaust louver/vent cap outside isn't filled with lint too. Sometimes contractors use ...
10
That pipe looks like an air intake.
All "direct vent" style appliances (high efficiency on-demand water heater, gas fireplace, etc.) have an isolated air intake and it is common to have it suck in air from outside the building so as not to force air infiltration through doors, windows, etc.
Indeed, that is ugly. Our fireplace and tankless water heater ...
10
I don't know where you live, but something to consider is that you're dumping warm, moist air into a potentially cold zone. So some of that air can/will condense in there in winter. Since attics tend to be filled with untreated wood, that means you're creating all the necessary conditions for mold to grow. That can potentially negatively affect your home air ...
9
The biggest issue you have venting into the attic is warm, moist air being blown into a somewhat closed area (aside from the grease and particles you have a filter for). If the attic space you vent into is large, and has good ventilation this shouldn't be an issue. If you have to vent into a small portion of the attic and it looks like the moist air will ...
9
In my personal opinion, this type of duct is NEVER a good idea for a dryer vent.
Lint sticks to the inside much more than smooth metal.
It's virtually impossible to clean effectively, without damaging the duct.
How long do you think it will last (contain the flames) when the lint inside catches fire?
Solid, smooth metal is the only sensible choice. ...
9
You're right that they're merely decorative. They're often a separate molding that lays over another board or molding. They can be removed or covered without issue.
I do think it's a loss of nice detail, though. It's that sort of thing that gives a house the richness of aesthetic yours has. Shame it has to go for the sake of convenience.
8
No. It has to be rigid metal pipe in the wall. Plastic pipe is a fire hazard.
Note that you cannot use screws to attach together metal pipe for dryer vents; lint can collect on it and become a fire hazard.
8
You can install a reducer, but you'll cut your flow volume by an equal proportion:
28.3in2 - 7.1in2 = 21.2in2 (an area reduction of 75% when going from 6" to 3" duct)
This will negate a significant amount of your fan upgrade, will make it work harder, and may shorten the motor's life due to reduced cooling.
You might ask yourself whether you really need ...
8
I've typically just seen that called metal strapping or steel strapping.
Home depot sells a similar thing in their ventilation accessories section, and they call it 'perforated metal hanger straps': https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-Flow-Perforated-Metal-Hanger-Straps-3-4HS/100396917
Most metal strapping I've seen has straight sides, instead of wavy ones ...
7
Yes, that's considered safe. The operating temperature of a dryer vent is not a problem for direct wood contact. Keep the vent clear and you'll have no fire.
Ensure all joints are foil taped, so lint does not escape from the pipe. Should lint escape the pipe, it can build up in the wall.
Use a "long sweep" elbow to make the vent easier to clean out. ...
7
Buy a 5" holesaw (and a drill sturdy enough to drive it). Cut a 5" hole in a big chunk of plywood. Screw/nail/clamp the plywood in the place where you want the hole. Drill away.
If you're having a hard time with the drill binding and trying to twist your wrist off, run it in reverse. It's much slower, but you won't have the same problem.
Couple more tips: ...
7
Sorry I don't have enough points to comment yet so have to put this reply in the answer.
I had a vent coming out under the cabinets in the kitchen of my house for 20 years with NO PROBLEM (i.e. at the floor level where the kick-plate is). This wasn't even ductwork under the cabinet, but rather the vent exhausted into the frame under the cabinets, which ...
7
Nonsense... there's no way the output from the AC will damage a modern cabinet. The carcass of the cabinet is undoubtedly plywood or MDF which is plenty dimensionally stable. If you're still worried, add louvers and point the exhaust away from the cabinets, but I wouldn't give it a second thought.
7
Your duct experiment and past experience indicates that the existing venting is limiting the performance of the dryer. You can't vent into the garage (see below) and being in Florida I assume you are on a slab so there won't be some alternate route into a basement or crawl space.
Your best solution may be a condensing (ductless) dryer.
This snippet of ...
6
Yes.
I was building a new home in Baytown Texas (completed in 2006) and searched far and wide for thermostat controlled dampers - was told by many HVAC companies that "they" remove them weekly - this isn't true.
I found one installer in Houston that would do the system the way I suggested - he listened and so did I. We compromised on 2 units with 3 ...
6
A capped opening in a sewer line is called a clean-out, usually they are a 4" long bend wye with a cap on one branch so you can pull the cover and run a snake down the whole length of the main sewer line.
In this case, a 2" pipe would be a good size to run a snake down to clear any clogs downstream from the toilet. I'd guess that somebody didn't allow ...
6
If you have access to the attic; and presumably the top of the bathroom fan, you may be able to follow the duct.
If you don't have access to the top side of the fan, you could remove the cover and take a peek inside. You should be able to get a glimpse of the outlet, which should allow you to determine if there's ducting attached.
In my house, the bathroom ...
6
IRC - 2006
Requires bath fans only if no operable window.
Bathroom ventilation can operate intermittently at a minimum of 50 cfm or continuously at a minimum of 20 cfm, the same as 62
Bath fans must meet the design airflow either through on airflow either through on site testing or using their certified rated flow at 0.25” water column.
Bath fans must be ...
6
IMO, and IME, bathroom fans should always be vented outside. Bathrooms are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) producer or water vapor in your home. When water vapor is trapped is can cause things like mold, mildew, damage to furniture, added difficulty in conditioning the air, and many more.
Just because a bathroom vent is not currently vented to the ...
6
We've got several things going on here:
This is a ridge-mounted, Slant-Back Roof Vent -- it's used to ventilate Attic air to the outside. It should not be used for double-duty for a Bath Fan exhaust. Warm moist Bathroom air will condensate on its underside and can cause moisture damage & mold on the roof sheathing.
As a Slant-Back Vent, the original ...
6
No, at least not under the international residential code (IRC):
M1501.1 Outdoor Discharge
The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged to
the outdoors in accordance with Section M1506.3. Air shall not be
exhausted into an attic, soffit, ridge vent or crawl space.
And more specifically:
M1507.2 Recirculation of Air
Exhaust air ...
6
Why do you need a duct? Most bathroom vanities, for example, are wide open from a slot in the floor to the louver on the kick panel. Just close off the compartment by any convenient means and call it a day. Staple some cardboard in if that works.
And parts from a big box store should work just fine. A common 2x10 or whatever size duct could be laid right in ...
6
It sounds as if the vent is completely open - hope that isn't the case. It could be dangerous.
Assuming you have some type of vent cover on it I would cut and attach a piece of wire or even cloth mesh over the top or just under the vent cover. The wire would probably work best under the vent cover. You could attach it to the cover itself or the ductwork.
5
The fan is better, as it actively moves air out of the room. However, if you're getting mold with the fan on, then it's either undersized or not working properly. Keep in mind you may need to let the fan run for a time period after you actually finish the shower to get all the humidity out of the room. You can get fans that speed up and down depending on ...
5
Your inspector is correct. Air should enter at the soffit, and exit at either roof vents or a ridge vent. With the current setup air could be entering either the soffit vents or the roof vents, and exiting either the roof vents or the ridge vent. Since your soffits are covered with insulation (because there are no baffles), I'd guess that air is entering ...
5
With the solar-powered vent and two static vents being so close together, I wouldn't be surprised if the the solar-powered vent (because it's powered) is pulling most of it's air from the two static vents. You might be able to check this by using toilet tissue, feather, incense smoke or something to determine air-flow direction through the static vents while ...
5
If possible, you want everything rigid: the connection from the dryer to the wall, the duct in the wall, and the duct in the attic. Sometimes rigid for the connection between the dryer and the wall is difficult to get right with a rigid duct so if you have to go with flexible duct then use the smallest piece practical.
A secondary lint trap is probably not ...
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