How To Clean Your Dryer Lint Trap

If your dryer's not drying clothes or information technology'south taking longer than usual, you could have a build-up of lint in the lint trap door. Here's how to clean your dryer lint trap.

When nosotros purchased our home in July it came with a used washer and clothes dryer. We were thrilled because that was i less appliance we needed to purchase.

After running several loads of laundry our excitement turned into thwarting. The dryer would dry the clothes but it took at least two cycles to get the clothes dry out.

Here it is, a year and a half subsequently and we are all the same dealing with the same dryer and taking FOREVER to become a load done. We take threatened nearly a dozen times to buy a new one but it yet kinda worked so we kept putting it off.

Earlier this week I took the time and cleaned the dryer lint trap and oh my goodness it has made a world of difference. In fact, I have a load that was completely dry and hot Before the timer beeped!

I am hoping that by sharing how simple this is, you will accept the time to clean your dryer vent and run into what a difference it makes. The whole matter seriously took less than 30 minutes. I'm embarrassed it took me so long to do information technology.

title image for How to Clean the Dryer Lint Trap Slot

How often should you clean a dryer lint trap?

You should remove the lint off the trap before every load of clothes.

As for the deep make clean where you clean the trap itself and the slot it goes into, at least once a year.

Supplies You'll Need to Create this Projection:

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Toothbrush
Lint Cadger
Vacuum Cleaner

Cleaning the Dryer Lint Screen:

Hither is my lint trap. Yous can judge me past how gross information technology is because it is bad. And this is when it's "clean" and the lint has been removed. EWWW!

I immediately brought it to my sink for a good rinsing.

When I turned the water on it wouldn't fifty-fifty become through the mesh. Airflow is supposed to come up through this filter, and if h2o can't get through and then that makes sense as to why hot air wasn't making information technology through.

My tool of choice to clean the trap is a toothbrush. Mine is a freebie that we got from our dentist.

using a toothbrush to scrub the lint trap

The beard of the cleaning castor piece of work peachy at removing all of the lilliputian pieces of yucky inside the mesh. Likewise, use a picayune bit of dish soap. The dish soap will help remove any residue from the dryer sheets or fabric softener.

I kind of expected that I would have to scrub, merely that really wasn't the case. The yuckies brushed away very easily. I cleaned the lint trap in about 10 minutes.

The lint trap will need to dry before you use it over again, but it doesn't accept long to dry out at all.

Oh my gosh, you can come across through it!

Cleaning the Dryer Lint Trap Slot:

The next step is to get all of the lint out of the lint trap slot. It was difficult to get a adept picture of the inside only there was lint buildup all over the sides and probably a couple inches on the bottom of that thin picayune slot.

That is definitely a fire hazard.

The Lint Lizard is a cleaning kit that has an accompaniment that goes over the finish of the vacuum hose attachment that turns into a smaller hose that volition fit inside the lint trap slot.

We accept a Shark Lift-Away and I love this vacuum.

I inserted the smaller hose into the lint trap and moved it effectually until I got all of the lint out. This tool is so much easier than using bent hangers to try to remove all of that backlog lint.

When I was all washed yous could actually see the metal of the lint trap. Information technology made me realize how gross information technology really was!

Cleaning my lint trap really has made such a difference in how well my dryer works, and I am sure it has increased its efficiency past nigh a billion percentage.

How long has it been since y'all have cleaned your dryer lint trap? If information technology has been more than ane yr I challenge yous to go out the old toothbrush and dish lather and get information technology washed.

When you make clean your dryer lint trap, please share a photo! We'd love to see it.

Instructions

Remove lint trap from dryer.
Clean the trap with running water, a toothbrush and a flake of dishwashing soap.
Let dry out.
Attach Lint Lizard to the vacuum hose.
Insert the Lint Cadger hose into the lint trap slot and move around to become all of the lint out.
Dryer is ready to use.