Thanks to the sulphur spewing portion of the paper mill a couple of blocks from my house closing down (PO related to), I thought I would try venting my drier's air intake from the outside. Now before anyone says "Just hang them on aline", I can't stand clothlined dried clothes, and its not a very practicle solution when its -20C outside.
Also I like playing around with stuff and I figure it'll cost under $100cnd
So here's what I was thinking:
Build an enclosed box (1ftX1ftX6ft) with openings for Cold intake tube, and Warm exhaust.
Add a drip pan and removable panel at the bottom
coil the intake tube inside the box using flexible tinfoil drier duct
Attach Warm drier exhaust so it free flows through the box to vent at the top (which vents to outside), heating the cold intake tube
The advantages of doing this is:
no waste of AC or heating because drier is throwing air outside
Less electricity use for drier heater (assuming temperature regulated heater)
Extremely fast drying time during the winter when outside air has 10% humidity
Concerns I have:
- With warm humid air free flowing through the box do I need to put a vapour barrier on the inside (I suspect I should as a matter of course)
- Can I let the cool outside air free flow through the box and duct the warm humid air of the exhaust. This elimnates the need for a vapour barrier and drip pan, but I'm concerned about moisture in the duct causing lint to become sticky and clog the duct, as well as water pooling and flowing back into the drier
- Will I freeze the crap out of my drier when it goes into the wrinkle reduction stage and its -20C outside (or is this a temperature controlled phase)
- Is my assumption of a temperature regulated heater wrong and I A) will have my drier continously go into an overheat shutdown mode or B) stand to burn my house down
anyways I though this would be a neat little summer project, its not to expensive, and hey, who know's, maybe it'll actually reduce my electricity bill. Let me know if you have any thoughts/additions