Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Might be a little off-topic, but here goes:

With Winter fast approaching (got to get that extra snoblower put back together), I got to thinking about how much I am heating the backyard with my dryer. 

Has anyone put together a heat exchanger for capturing some of this heat before it goes outside?  I know I can't just vent the dryer inside (humid air, dust, and combustion gases), but someone must have done this before. 

Ralph, doing as you suggest should be pretty easy, but my initial thoughts are is it worth it? If your household is like ours, the dryer runs maybe a total of 6 or 8 hours a week, (and that may be a bit on the high side) it  would take quite a long time for the little energy savings you may realize, to offset the cost of building a heat exchanger for the purpose you suggest.  in addition to the heat exchanger, to be more effecient, its going to take a fan and control circuitry also. anything from a simple on/off toggle switch to as complex as adding limit switches and possibly a thermostat,  so the fan only runs when the heat exchanger is heated.
another consideration is how would your insurance company view such an installation? that could be a real issue too.

The simplest way would be to make a long tubing run. The problem is that all that water in your laundry is discharged in warm air - 2-3 quarts. So you'd have a big condensation problem.

LG Electronics (sold at HD and others) makes a single unit washer dryer that condenses the water and sends it out the drain. So does Bosch. Some European models are sold with heat exchangers.

They're not popular because they're expensive so the payback is lengthy. They're mostly used where an external vent is not available.

Great idea!  We use our dryer at least once a day, oftentimes more and that is a lot of heat loss from the house and vent.  With fuel over $2 gallon, anything for free heat is welcome.

Perhaps multiple sections of conventional baseboard heater with the aluminum fins and a fan?   Or  something along the lines of a  modified hot water kickspace heater? 

Saw something at Home Depot which filtered the humid air through something like a nylon stocking  - didn't look that great. 

Gotta check online for some ideas....

I don't know how gas dryers vent. Do they mix the spent gas with the heat and moisture from the dryer?

We use an electric dryer. In the summer I vent outside. In the winter I vent inside through a stocking.
The stocking seems to catch whatever the lint filter lets through, except the heat and moisture that the house needs in the winter.
I thought everybody did this... It only takes a few minutes each year to change the vent connection.

Ralph, My home awawy from home is Homedepot. I do remember seeing in the vent section(plumbing) a gismo that lets you capture the heat from your dryer vent without letting all the lint in. Its out there at least two years.Lots of luck. Allan

Thanks for the replies. 

I had one of those things from HomeDepot on my ELECTRIC dryer in my old house.  Worked fine.  Gas dryer manufacturers state NOT to use these types of things on their gas dryers.  I can't imagine any combustion gases getting into the dryer part, but maybe they are just on the safe side. 

Regardless, my gas dryer is in my basement, where I don't need any additional humidity.  The dehumidifier works just about non-stop Winter and Summer. 

With two teenage girls, we are doing about 10 loads of laundry per week.   I don't know why you need a new towel after every shower, but maybe that's just me. 

Any other suggestions?  Maybe a heat exchanger on the dryer flue? 

Thanks again,

Ralph

Ralph, I hear you loud and clear.About towels don't even go there,SAME HERE!!

On another note about the humidity I also had the humidifier running day and night and still had some so I went the Humidex Atlantic way and that seems to work very well.I mean I made my own for $150.00 instead of $1200.00 or close to it.Gets the job done at a fraction of the cost.That's what realy counts.

HIRSCHALLAN@hotmail.com