TOM ANDERSON EMAILS WITH AN ENERGY-SAVING SUGGESTION:
Since the cold snap is affecting almost everybody, this inside dryer vent is something I have used for over 10 years to pump more heat and humidity into the house in winter. You just disconnect your dryer vent from the outside exhaust and plug it into the top of the house vent. The water in the vent keeps lint from blowing into the house. As a bonus you are not using your dryer to pump the warm air in your home air outside.
This may take the sting out of the single digit temperatures and the amazon link may make a little money for the InstaEmpire.
Interesting. Am I missing a downside somewhere?
UPDATE: Reader Paula Riggs writes:
If you’ll permit me a word of caution…. Not too long ago I tried a indoor vent based on the same principle. My utility room resembled a sauna, which resulted in my very quickly growing a mega-resistant mildew on the walls. However, said utility room resides in Oregon, which means that during winter, our atmosphere is already pretty saturated.
And reader Michael Smith notes this:
“Never use this product with a gas clothes dryer.”
Pretty big downside if you have a gas dryer.
Well, yes.
MORE: Reader Tim Shuck emails:
This is another resurrection from the 1970s, which is when my wife and I tried it. No, water vapor in the vent does not keep lint from blowing into the house, which dust on the exterior vent cover amply demonstrates from ‘normal’ use. You also don’t need to be in Oregon to see the effects of over-saturation. We live in central Iowa, with very dry winter weather, and though not quite to the level of a sauna, the room (actually the whole basement) smelled like, well, a damp and musty basement after we did this.
If you really want the benefits of energy saving/ moisture addition from clothes drying, go back a few decades more and do like my mother did in our farmhouse: hang laundry from a line stretched from the kitchen to the dining room. No lint, added moisture, no electricity or natural gas use, and no fire hazard.
Yeah, we did that when I was a kid, too, though usually on a rickety laundry rack like this one. Fun times, fun times. . . .
MORE STILL: Reader Alexander Szewczak emails:
+1 on the laundry rack! For drying we use two laundry racks and we hang dress shirts and pants on hangers in a (mostly) empty closet with the sliding door left open. Works like a charm in New England (especially in the winter!). Everything dries overnight, and is either ready to fold (drying rack) or ready to transfer directly on hangers into your bedroom closet in the morning. Dress shirts don’t need to be ironed, and dress pants are surprisingly wrinkle free by morning. Shirts last *much* longer when you don’t dry them in a drier, FYI.
Indeed. On the other hand, beware of cats.