News Reports

Codes cover specifics of vents for clothes dryers for a reason
By Dwight Barnett

Q. I am buying a new condo. The dryer is on an inside wall. The vent pipe will go up the inside of the wall, then turn and go back across the inside of the ceiling to the outside, a distance of 30 feet or so. What are the standards, if any? Would GE, the manufacturer of the dryer, be a source of information? I feel that this is a potential problem.

A. Trust your feelings on this one. After a quick search of the Internet I could not find anything about GE and dryer vents, but I do have some other sources, including at www.pamic.org/clothes_dryer_safety.htm.

According to the Web site and information supplied by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are 15,500 fires, 10 deaths, 310 injuries and more than $84.4 million in property damage associated with clothes dryers each year. There are 81.5 million homes throughout the United States with clothes dryers that are at risk for fires starting in their machines.

Clothes dryer fires are caused by:

• Lack of maintenance
• Improper and flammable items in dryers such as foamed-backed rugs or athletic shoes
• Improper installation (including venting)
• Use of plastic ducts
• Failure of mechanical and/or electrical parts within the dryer

The International Residential Code, Section M1501.3, states that a clothes-dryer vent cannot be more than 25 feet in length and that each 90-degree elbow will be counted as five feet of piping and each 45-degree elbow will be counted as 2.5 feet of pipe.

After looking at all this information, I think a 30-foot pipe might vent, but the efficiency of the machine would be reduced and the lint trapped might become a fire hazard.

Shorten the total length of the pipe, or look into installing a clothes-dryer-vent booster fan.

Q. I have two side-by-side windows in my kitchen that I want to replace with a single large picture window. Please advise what kind of a professional I would need for this job and anything else I may need to consider when undertaking this task.

A. First of all, someone needs to determine whether the kitchen wall with the two windows is a load-bearing wall. A carpenter, a building contractor or a remodeling contractor can easily answer that question with just one look at the home.

If the windows are in a load-bearing wall, a supporting header will need to be installed when the two windows are removed. If the wall is not load-bearing, a window dealer can replace the windows with very little demolition and usually in one day.

Check your local phone directory for contractors and window dealers.