You’ve landed on another blog by the Space Coast’s best & most well-reviewed full-service dryer vent company, Thank you for your readership! Today’s blog is about something we frequently get an influx of calls about during the summer months and sometimes even outside of the summer months – condensation &/ or water in the dryer itself &/or dryer vent.
The attached video is a complete explanation of how and why that happens. But for the reader’s benefit here’s a quick explanation. Out of the 10,000 + Dryers / Dryer Vents I’ve serviced between doing this line of work in Virginia and now in Florida there’s only 2 reasons that I’ve found on why condensation &/or water would find its way into a Dryer or its Vent.
Reason #1 is related to the influx of calls during hot and humid summer months. Whether you live on the Space Coast or not, it’s safe to say the eastern half of the U.S gets more humid than the western half, and certainly the closer you are to east coast.
Per building code standards, dryer exhausts (vents) are required to have a cover, which not only has to meet a minimum passage-way clearance, but also must have a “damper door”. Many people refer to this as a “flapper”. However there are other types like louvered vent covers which qualify as a damper. The primary purpose of this damper door is keeping outside air from going inside the duct.
We’ve found as you’ll see in the video, damper doors that weren’t sealed very well and as a result a nominal draft of air would make it’s way into the duct all the way to the dryer. If the dryer door happens to be shut, now you have humid air trapped and consequently the air will condensate and appear to “sweat” inside the dryer drum window of the dryer door if it happens to be glass or plastic.
If the room where the dryer is located is nice and conditioned with AC, the increased temperature differential can also compound the workings of the condensation when you have the warm humid air hitting the cooler metal of the dryer.
What causes condensation?
Condensation will form on any object when the temperature of the object is at or below the dew point temperature of the air surrounding the object. Dew point temperature is defined simply as the temperature at which water vapor, when cooled, will begin to condense to the liquid phase, so it is the most useful humidity parameter when dealing with condensation problems. Dew point, relative humidity, and temperature are all related. The following table shows some typical temperature and humidity values and their corresponding dew point temperatures:
| Temperature °C (°F)% | Relative Humidity | Dew Point °C (°F) |
| 27 (80) | 75% | 22 (71) |
| 27 (80) | 45% | 13 (56) |
| 16 (60) | 75% | 11 (52) |
| 16 (60) | 45% | 4 (39) |
| 2 (35) | 75% | -2 (28) |
| 2 (35) | 45% | -9 (16) |
Consider conditions of condensation, for example, a room or warehouse where the air is 27°C (80°F) and the relative humidity is 75%. In this room, any object with a temperature of 22°C (71°F) or lower will become covered by condensation.
Source: vaisala.com
So, a damper door that’s not properly sealed can cause this OR a vent cover that’s missing the damper entirely can certainly all-the-more cause this. Nate’s Dryer Vent Cleaning Technicians have found the condensation can build up into a couple of tablespoons of water in the drums of dryers before.
Reason #2 that water or condensation would be in a dryer vent is due to largely a lack of maintenance that led to a 100% clog in the vent some where (to include the discharge end where the vent cover is) or an extremely heavy build up of lint in the duct. You’d likely be surprised to hear that the Certified Dryer Exhaust Technicians with Nate’s Dryer Vent Cleaning has removed more than 2 gallons of water from people’s vents before on a number of occasions.
Furthermore there have been a number of occasions where water was
already removed by a maintenance many or homeowner due to it “raining”/ leaking through the vent and subsequently through the ceiling into what’s usually a condo unit (but could be a multi-story home).
I was recently called out to a townhome complex in Cocoa where it leaked a significant water through the ceiling and it was initially unclear to the renter/ owner what the cause was. I was told they thought it was a roof leak, a plumbing leak or something HVAC related. So the President of the association had all three of those professionals come to take a look after the drywall on the ceiling had been removed and they concluded it was a dryer vent problem and several of those professionals including the President of the association said to the owner: “Call Nate’s Dryer Vent Cleaning they’ll solve this problem!”
Water “raining” through people’s ceiling is just another consequence and hazard of a clogged vent. If you’re not familiar with the 4 or 5 consequences/ hazards of a clogged vent you should check out this 2 minute video made quickly discussing that.
Thanks for watching & or reading this blog as we hope it brought you some value. If you have an idea for a blog or video drop a comment or send us a text, email or contact us at one of our social media platforms. We’re excited and honored to be Space Coast’s premiere Certified Dryer Vent Cleaning Company and we hope you give us the opportunity to make your home safer and your dryer more efficient. Stay tuned for more blogs!
