Anyone try this trick to heat your house with your clothes dryer?

What about the moisture that the dryer takes out of the clothes as they are drying? Does this go into the house as well, since you are using the vent to help heat the inside of the house?

 

Not true in our case. Choice is propane or electric and we get a reduced rate on the dryer and HWH. I vent ours into the house in the winter to provide moisture and heat. Been doing that for years now, 'cause I'm cheap.

 

Do u have a lint trap when you vent into the house?

 

You guys are nuts! IMO if you are trying to heat any portion of your house with your dryer

How often are you running this dryer. Definitely not smart enough to argue, but CMon man!

 

Yes Don and I'm not really interested in the heat factor but more the humidity from the drying clothes and how it impacts the RH in the house. I like to keep my RH around 50% if possible. Easier on my nose and the furry creatures too.

I use one of those bypass boxes you can get at ACE with a mesh bag attached to it to catch the lint.. Turn it inside out and the lint falls off. Been doing that for years now. Flip the flapper one way for summer, the other way for winter. Easy peasy.

 

The ACE units seem very helpful.
Ace Heat Diverter
Ace 4 in. L X 4 in. D White Plastic Heat Diverter - Ace Hardware
Ace Lint trap
Ace 4 in. W X 4 in. L White Plastic Lint Trap - Ace Hardware

 

Not overly expensive either. Comment above about heatin the house with a dryer I find humorous. I just want the humid air that is going outside. Nothing more and it saves my buying bottled water for the humidifier as out well water is loaded with calcium and kiss a humidifier wick in less than a day.

 

I tried

That 1st unit pictured worked ok. And there's a damper on it to let it all go outside for warmer days. Never used to actually replace the furnace just when there was laundry to dry.. With 3 kids in sports at the time that was multiple times a day. Wife didn't like it, but she only goes in the basement for laundry. I have a work bench and a bunch of aquariums down there so I liked it...
But happy wife happy life so its gone

 

Heat pump dryers are awholenuther level of efficient, and they are ventless. They are pricey however and take twice as long to dry the clothes.

Hang the clothes outside in the summer...that's free.

 

Believe it or not, Summer can be the worst time to dry clothes outside if it is hot and stupid humid with no wind. They just get hot in the sun if there is no wind.
I haven't used my dryer for 15 years. I have a clothes line outside and a small one inside.
A windy day in Spring, Fall or Winter and they can be dry in half an hour if it is also relatively dry.



Electric here is 29¢/kwh so three loads a week saves me somewhere between $1.25 and $4.00 a week. Plus my clothes last longer.
Not a big chunk of change, but it would be for a family of four or more.
I don't live without a dryer to save money per se, but because one thing I began noticing in world travels is that the rest of the world pretty much uses clothes lines to dry clothes. I figure so can I.

 

Electric heat is 100% efficient.

 

There is exactly zero chance mine would collapse.

 

Mine might collapse, with or without pulling a vacuum on it... lol

 

Yeah. Long term this could cause mold.

 

That is why I did not buy a house with a damp basement.

 

...and the most expensive per realized BTU.

 

The book " a river runs through it" was written about my basement.

 

I cant imagine the comments from my wife if i had some duct work like that from the ceiling to our dryer.