Dryer Vent Maintenance in Pacific Palisades, CA

Why does the dryer take two cycles now?

Usually the run, not the dryer. Lint settles in the low spots of sagging foil duct. Airflow drops. Moisture stays in the drum. On prewar bungalows and service porches around the Palisades, the vent is often a short run through an exterior wall, and the flapper hood outside has crusted shut with lint and road dust. That hood is the first thing to check yourself. Run the dryer. Go outside. If the flaps barely move, the problem is at the end, not the machine.

Longer runs behave differently. Hallway-closet dryers in 1950s-60s ranches often push through the attic with several elbows before reaching a garage wall or garage roof. Each 90-degree elbow costs you equivalent length, and many of these runs already exceed what the manufacturer allows. Second-floor laundry rooms in the newer two-story and hillside houses vent straight up through a roof jack. Those need cleaning more often, every six to twelve months, because lint rides up and falls back.

In canyon and hillside pockets, birds and rodents nest in garage and roof terminations. Screens and bird guards pack solid. A gas dryer fighting a blocked exhaust backs humidity into the laundry room, and you will smell it before you see it.

Condo stacked closets share a vertical chase with other units. Cleaning one unit does not fix a shared chase, and we will say so rather than charge you twice.