# Recycling in hot air from clothes dryer



## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

I agree it does seem like a waste of heat but on the other hand you don't want to introduce all that uncontrolled moisture in the house. Also, I'm not sure how much CO comes out of a dryer but I think I would stay on the safe side and vent to the outside.


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## 2031pratt (Dec 22, 2008)

yeah, now that i think about it, a gas clothes dryer expels CO besides heat. so no go.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

One reason I like our electric dryer
I do know people who have done this with a gas dryer

They didn't seem to understand the exhaust concept, I tried
"It's just hot damp air"
Uh....no :no:


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## queenofthehouse (Jul 14, 2007)

I tried that one year as living in Minnesota, we certainly could use warm, moist air in the house in the winter.

BLACK MOLD  !!! It grew on the basement walls where it was trapped behind my plastic bins and cardboard boxes. Don't do it!


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## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

queenofthehouse said:


> I tried that one year as living in Minnesota, we certainly could use warm, moist air in the house in the winter.
> 
> BLACK MOLD  !!! It grew on the basement walls where it was trapped behind my plastic bins and cardboard boxes. Don't do it!


I had the same problem, when we bought our house the previous owner didn't vent our gas dryer. It blew lint all over the basement. What a mess. I unfinished the basement because the "finishing" was poorly done. I found mold growing under the paneling. Once I tore all the sheetrock and paneling down, I found a dryer vent cut into the cinder block foundation. It was plugged up with towels. I don't know what the previous owners were thinking.


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## skipjack (Aug 15, 2008)

I know I've seen flexible dryer tubing advertised on the box as being able to radiate heat better than the foil looking stuff and therefore would sort of act as a source of heat.

It looked like standard flexible aluminum to me. I'm sure the theory was that the corrugations in the tube would act like a radiator. Probably true, but I can't imagine you'd get a _whole_ lot of heat out of it but, that might be the closest you could get to recycling heat on a gas dryer.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

I also have a wood fire going a lot, so that dries the house out

Some people will argue that the amount of CO output by a dryer for 30 minutes could be compared to cooking Thanksgiving dinner in a gas stove that vents into the house for 4+ hours

I think to vaildate that or shoot it down you would need to know:
The BTU's of gas used by each
The efficiency of each
The amount of CO/exhaust pu tout by each


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

Ayuh,..

Is this the thread you're talking about,..??

Everybody Jumped all over Me for stating the Obvious,...
I'm still not convinced,..
And,..
In this 100 Plus year old house, where the curtains move with the wind,...
I'm still Using the Heat,+ Mositure here...


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## Jacques (Jul 9, 2008)

NEVER vent a gas dryer inside. you can vent an electric dryer but you may end up with mold,allergies,as'ma, etc. the highest heat coming out of dryer is 150*+/-. that's not high enough to kill germs.


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