I just read about a dryer modification that sounded interesting. A duct is added to the dryer to draw hot attic air into the dryer so you don’t have to use the heat setting.
Anyone do this or know about it? Sounds easy and promising to me.
Rich, tired of paying JCP&L
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Hmmm! i like it
Sounds good at first but,
-Most driers don't have an intake duct.
-If you are in a humid climate do you really want hot humid air to dry with from the attic, your home air might be dehumidified if you have one on your furnace or when running your AC you remove humidity that is why ACs condensate.
-What about winter what do you do, summers (hot attic) is only 3-4 months.
-Have you been in your attic lately, mine is only 18 years old it is pretty dusty, cob webs and what ever else. I do not want that on my clean clothes along with fiber glass fragments.
On second thought sounds like a bad idea to me, who knows what codes it breaks.
Wallyo
Edited 6/15/2009 8:40 pm by wallyo
I imagine you could be right about the humidity. The intake issue would be easily overcome. I'm thinking blast gate style shutters.
Yes of course it would be only for use in the summer, but that's OK. I think the dust issue could be resolved with a filter at the attic end.
Sounds too easy not to try.
I saw someone has patented a device to use the heated exhaust air to preheat the intake air for a dryer. I think something like this will eventually become standard as requirements for more energy efficient appliances are implemented.
Rich
Rich is this a kit or something you just read on line or anther source?If in a dry climate like mine it may work but a humid one I think the extra humidity would negate any savings gain in preheated air.Wallyo
No, not a kit. Just came across it online. Actually I think it was from the south west. So humidity might be an issue in the north east summers
The patented device doesn't have anything to do with the attic air intake idea, just saw it in a search for dryer air intake kits
How bout refridgerators. It has to cool down all the warm air your furnace makes all winter , and then it blows hot air into your house all summer so your AC can cool that down.
yeah, this is all so wrong
Funny thing you would bring that up, my dad was Mr climate control. had thermometers all over the house, in vents in different rooms, dehumidifiers, We lived in NJ, Behind the fridge he cut a hole in the wall it was a double plumbing wall, two 2x4 walls with a 2 inch space between 2 x 's. furnace stack, plumbing, everything in this wall, so in the summer he dampered the fridge with cardboard to force the hot fridge air out of the house up the wall to the attic so as not to expel it into the kitchen. Did it work, I don't know, but it made him feel good. That was when fridges were mammoth.Wallyo
Behind the fridge he cut a hole in the wall
Years ago, there was a design for something similar in Mother Earth News. Not sure if I remember exactly how it worked, but in summer the waste heat was vented out of the house. In winter, outside air was drawn across the coils and the waste heat was vented into the house.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
If any thing he probably got better fridge performance because in his change over process he would vacuum the heck out of all the coils, and he changed it over twice a year.Wallyo
"What about winter what do you do, summers (hot attic) is only 3-4 months"
Say what? Down here summer is 11 months and 29 days. We call the coldest day in January winter just so we can get back to summer.
Ok got me there but then 200 of your days are at 80% humidity.Wallyo
I've got a better modification.
Stop using the dryer and put up a clothes line.
Yeah I like that too.
Shhhhh.... that idea might catch on......Scott.
Unless your attic is insulated with spray foam, I wouldn't do it.
Go up into the attic at night and close the access point so it is dark in there. Position yourself and turn off the light. Take a laser pointer and turn it on. See all that krap in the beam? That's what you would be bringing inside an onto your clothes. That krap in the beam gets worse if it is windy outside.
Get yourself a front load wash machine- the clothes come out almost dry.
Edited 6/16/2009 8:41 am ET by danski0224
Where did you read about it?
Sounds like a reasonable idea to me. But it would probably need a lot of thought and some leg work.
As someone mentioned, you might need a filter. But rigging up something with a furnace flter shoule be fairly easy.
Even in the winter you would be drawing in outside air rather than pulling conditioned air out of the house. The air would most likely be very low in humidity once it was heated.
Or maybe you could set up dual intakes - Attic air in the warmer months, with a lever to switch to pulling inside air in the colder months. Or even put in a computer ship that would measure the temp and humidity levels in both air intakes and decide which was the most economical to use.
Probably the most difficult thing would be running the vent from the attic down to the dryer, and figuring out how to get it hooked into the dryer so it would be used.
.
BTW - If you want a low energy usage dryer, they do have condensing dryers now. But I believe they're pretty pricey.
Shoot... I thought this was about turning a dryer into a corn popper like Red Green.
I can't seem to locate where I saw it. I've got too many favorite pages. I'll keep looking though.
Our laundry is on the second floor so running the duct would be easy here.
I think the trickiest part would be attaching it to the dryer. Dryers draw air over the coil or flame. They don't blow it over the heat source. So any leakage would likely cause an over heating condition if the intake was attached between the heater and the drum.
There will certainly be times when the coil will be needed even in the summer
Rich