We clean the lint out of the whole vent run, from the back of the dryer to the hood on the outside wall. Lint is whatever the dryer couldn't push all the way out, and it builds up at every bend. A clogged vent makes the dryer run longer and the laundry room hot, and it's the usual cause of a dryer fire.
Dryer vent cleaning is one of the jobs we do at Sterling Properties Cleaning & Maintenance in Pine Beach. We clean dryer vents in homes and rentals across Ocean and Monmouth County, multi-unit buildings too, from Toms River and Brick up to Wall Township and the towns in between.
- Licensed, bonded & insured, NJHIC #13VH13963600
- Time-stamped photos with every job
- Based in Pine Beach, working across Ocean & Monmouth County
- Free quotes, most the same day
Before
After
A dryer vent before and after cleaning. The lint on the left is what the dryer could not push out. Drag the slider.
Watch the camera inside a Toms River dryer vent
What dryer vent cleaning includes
We pull the dryer out and disconnect the transition hose. Then we run a rotary brush through the duct from the inside and clear it from the outside hood too, so the lint gets pushed out instead of packed in tighter. Once everything's hooked back up, we run the dryer and make sure air is moving outside.
- Transition hose behind the dryer cleaned
- Full duct run brushed from both ends
- Outside hood cleared and flap checked
- Airflow confirmed with the dryer running
Repairing the dryer isn't included. If the vent needs a part, like the elbow on the Wall Township job, we tell you before we put it in.
The binder clips in Wall Township
We opened up a dryer vent in Wall Township, NJ, and found it held together with binder clips, left there by whoever installed it. Office clips don't seal a duct joint, so lint collects right at the gap. It was a fire hazard sitting behind the dryer.
We pulled the clips, put in a properly sized elbow, and sealed the joint with heat-rated tape. That's what a cheap install looks like from the inside.
Why Shore dryers clog faster
It's the humidity. Lint is heavy when it's damp, and in a Shore summer it sticks to the duct wall instead of blowing out. Beach towels and sandy laundry put more lint through every load. The sand ends up in the trap housing. A rental runs the dryer every turnover day, and that's exactly when a restricted vent overheats.
Any dryer needs this at least once a year. Big households and rentals should be on a shorter schedule than that.
Homes, rentals and multi-unit buildings
A homeowner needs this once a year. For a landlord or a property manager, it's a liability item. A dryer fire in a rental is the owner's problem, and a tenant isn't going to tell you the dryer's been running hot. Across both counties, we clean dryer vents and ducts for property managers and HOAs, and for multi-family buildings and senior care facilities.
The Commercial Quarterly Maintenance Plan puts dryer vent cleaning in the first quarter with the emergency lighting test and the smoke and CO alarm check, so all of the building's fire safety items get done on one visit.
The winter visit on the Quarterly Maintenance Plan
On the homeowner plan, dryer vent cleaning is a first quarter job, January through March. That's the winter visit, when the dryer is working hardest, and the vent has had a full year to fill up. We do the bathroom exhaust vents and the range hood filter on the same visit. Refrigerator coils too, and the batteries in the smoke and CO alarms.
It isn't an HVAC membership, which gets you a furnace and AC tune-up and stops there. The dryer vent, the gutters, the exterior and the handyman list are what the home maintenance plan covers, four visits a year.
Photos of the lint, and how to tell your vent is clogged
We photograph the vent before and after, time-stamped, and that includes the pile of lint that came out of it. The report notes what shape the duct is in and anything we think you should fix. We're licensed, bonded, and insured, NJHIC #13VH13963600.
Watch for these signs of a clogged dryer vent.
- Clothes take two cycles to dry
- The top of the dryer is hot to the touch
- A burning smell during a cycle
- Lint around the outside hood, or a flap that doesn't open
Dryer vent cleaning by town
Dryer vent cleaning in Lacey Township and Forked River
A lot of the lagoon homes here are raised, so the dryer is on one floor and the hood is on another. Long runs with bends pack with lint faster than a straight run through a wall.
Dryer vent cleaning in Seaside Park and Lavallette
Rental dryers run every changeover day all summer, and nobody looks at a second home's vent between visits. We clear the whole run and check the flap outside, either before the season or on the first-quarter visit. Both town pages have a dryer vent section: dryer vent cleaning in Seaside Park and in Lavallette.
Dryer vent cleaning in Wall Township
The houses are bigger, so the run out to the far wall is longer. Wall Township is also where we found the binder clips.
Dryer vent cleaning in Toms River
This is our home turf, so a dryer vent in Toms River can ride on any visit we're already making. One Toms River vent got a camera before we touched it. Lint coated the whole run and the hood outside was packed solid. The video above is that job, and the write-up is inside a Toms River dryer vent.
Dryer vent cleaning in Brick
A lot of Brick's lagoon homes were raised after Sandy, so the dryer sits a full story above the hood. The vent has to come down through the new lower level to reach it, two or three bends on the way, and every bend is a place lint stops.
Questions we get about Dryer Vent Cleaning
At least once a year, and more often for a big household or a rental property.
Clothes take longer to dry than they used to. The dryer feels hot on top, or there's a burning smell during a cycle.
Yes. When the vent's restricted, the dryer runs longer to do the same load, and that's more electricity or gas every time you run it.
We'll tell you. Foil and plastic hoses sag and trap lint, and they aren't rated for the heat either. We can fit a properly sized elbow and seal it with heat-rated tape, which is what we did on the Wall Township job.
Yes. Dryer vent and duct cleaning is on our commercial list for property managers, HOAs, and multi-family buildings. On the commercial plan, it's a first-quarter item, and each unit gets its own before and after photos.
Dryer vent cleaning starts at $150. The price depends on how long the run is and how many bends it has, so a straight run behind a first-floor laundry costs less than one that goes down through a raised house. Ask when you call, and you'll have the number before we come out. On the Quarterly Maintenance Plan, it's part of the first-quarter visit, not an extra.
