Indoor Dryer Vent for Winter Season

I've used a nylon stretched over the end of the pipe many years ago and one of those little water buckets with the vent holes most recently . That water bucket actually worked a lot better than it looked like it would. Our dryer is right next to the door so I could stretch the hose over to a vent I put in the storm door during the Summer. GF passed quite a while ago and I don't use the dryer so the pipe is just dangling to the side, unused.

 

As per usual, I looked at the different models ad naseum,and decided to wait a couple of weeks. After all, the basement was still in the high 60% humidity range when I started looking. Friday, I decided to look again. I did not want a model that used a water trap (because cats and I would never remember to fill it anyway). Although I wanted one that had a diverter so I didn't have to change around the exhaust hose at different seasons, there seemed to only be 2 versions and I just didn't have confidence in their lint screening abilities. so decided to go with a model designed for only indoor exhaust.

I had been leaning towards an expensive model (for what they are), but a new one popped up that is all metal, doesn't use water, and came with all parts needed. Somehow several models looked cheaper, but by the time you added in the "extras" that were needed (extra screens, hook up adapter and hose etc), they were more expensive. I also had cashback bucks to spend from my cc, so only paid about $30

I tend to stay away from non-established items on Amazon, but what the heck, I went for it. It arrived yesterday early afternoon. The box was heavy for its size and I tore into it like a kid on Christmas The picture below does not capture all the contents - there were two bags of hardware also. The picture also doesn't do the lint screening system justice either, there is a separate metal screen (behind the 9-window piece), and the disposable blue/white screens have a larger particle side then a smaller particle side. There were a total of 3 of the smaller screens included (1 is behind the wire screen) - most systems only had 1 so you immediately had to buy more.




It didn't take long to install the box itself. It did take some time to attach teh adapter to the box as it is a really tight fit. I unhooked the outdoor exhaust from the dryer and plugged that up with newspaper then a plastic bag to keep air from coming in (although the louvers on the outside portion do a pretty decent job of that already).


I know all the wingnuts make it look a bit kludgy, but that was my choice. They also had a bag of nuts without wings, so if those had been used it would look cleaner. The screening system just slides in and out for cleaning.

I'll be using the dryer later today and will find out then if I made a good choice.

 

Living in our climate, I would have never thought of venting a dryer inside. I really hope it works for you.

 

Results were good when I ran the clothes dryer yesterday. Mind, I could have waited another couple of weeks as the basement isn't really dry yet, but since I only run 2 loads per week, I judged the humidity had gone down enough that it would be fine.

I took pictures of the temp/RH unit downstairs just before starting the dryer. That unit sits about 15' away from the wall that the exhaust box is on. Note that the highs and lows are "all time". In this case, I changed the batteries in October, so the high of 77% humidity is from back then. And obviously, it doesn't show the lows from last winter when the basement is regularly down in the teens and 20s for humidity. The P61a hadn't run for a little bit and I turned it off to ensure that it didn't join the party.




The dryer ran for about 55 minutes and I made sure I listened for the musical tune so I could catch everything just seconds after it stopped. By looking at the thermometer, it doesn't seem as if the temperature was raised in the basement by much. However,the entire basement is wide open so 600 sq/ft rose by that much. I could also feel the warm, moist air coming up the stairs every time I walked between the kitchen and living room. The mini split also took most of that time off as it didn't need to run to keep the temp on the main floor. The humidity rose 15% and was well below what it it stays at during the summer.


45 minutes later (yes, I know the pic is titled half hour, but that is because math is hard this time of morning), I checked the humidity again, and the basement had already lost 1/2 of what it had gained.



I didn't think to take a picture of the main floor temp/RH unit before starting the dryer. I do know that it normally projects that it is 69* in that area and I believe it was in the low 40 percentile RH. At the 40 minute mark I looked and the main floor was at 45% humidity and 71*. Right as the musical tune was playing for dryer end, I took this pic.


You can see I haven't had to change the batteries on this unit yet as it shows last year's low humidity level - and that was running two humidifiers. Also, that low temp of 55* was during the 3 day power outage when my battery station ran out of juice overnight (my fault) so I went without heat for several hours until I could get it juiced back up.