The Best Dryer Vent

The best dryer vent????  Really? Yes, really.

I can't tell you how many times in the past that I have had to turn the dryer back on to warm already dried clothes.  Our old dryer vent was the plastic louver style which was a slight upgrade from our previous traditional sheet metal vent.

The problem with the plastic louver style is that over time the plastic gets warped and allows cold air to enter the dryer vent and ultimately the dryer.  There have been times during the winter where the cold air has entered the dryer and even cooled the laundry room.  So when I decided to buy a new dryer vent to replace the warped louver style vent I decided to search around and see what was out there.

I searched for dryer vent and came up with an interesting vent called the Deflecto Ultra Seal 4" Dryer Vent.  The reviews were great with a lot of the reviewers mentioning how well it kept the cold air from coming into the dryer.

I purchased ours off of eBay and it arrived in less than a week and the total cost was $26.40. Installation was straight forward and took longer to find the correct size screw driver than to unscrew the 4 screws that held the old vent in place and to install the new vent using the four existing holes.

The very first time I opened the dryer door I noticed the lack of cold air in the dryer.  The manufacturer says it cuts drying time but I don't hang around my dryer close enough to be able to make a determination on whether the drying time has been reduced.  The laundry room is definitely warmer, especially on cold windy winter days than it was with the old louver style vent.

The way that this vent closes and opens makes it self sealing with the help of gravity.  When the dryer is turned on, the cup that covers the vent pipe lifts up and allows the air to escape.  When the dryer turns off the cup floats back down over the pipe.   For added protection there is a larger permanent covering that keep the floating cup from flying off and keeps the weather from coming in. This dryer vent would also be perfect for weekend or seasonal homes where there is a need to make sure little critters do not gain entry through your dryer vent.

I did read in the reviews that you should paint the plastic to protect it but I think I will refrain from that because my vent is in a protected area out of direct sunlight.  I do wish it was offered in pure white instead of the off white ivory color.  They call it white but it's not white white. The ivory color works well with the brick on the Torrey Road house but I can see it being unappealing against the dark grey shingles and the white trim.  So when we install the dryer vent at The Gear I will probably paint it dark grey to blend into the shingles.

We are giving this dryer vent a big thumbs up.

The Winter Blahs, Curbside Treasures, Vintage Shower Head

I just want it to be 32 degrees.  This bitter cold makes you want to stay inside and do nothing and that's pretty much what we have done this past week....NOTHING.

We braved outside temps in the teens and twenties and finished removing all the cut wood and brush. About 90% of the brush has been burned but the snow is now too deep to finish burning.  Today's temps were in the single digits but at least we are not getting a lot of snow like on the east coast.  I guess that is sort of a silver lining.......maybe???

Before we went into hibernation mode we did score several curbside treasures.  That's usually a spring, summer, and fall phenomenon but leave it to R to spot something cool.  He found two pressed back oak chairs in wonderful condition. Unfortunately they were not my style, so off to CraigsList they went and two days later we had 40 bucks.  So what did we do with the free cash?

We bought a huge vintage shower head.  Why?  I don't know.....LOL  We just thought it would look cool if we ever had an outdoor shower.  The shower head is huge and has a chain to turn on the water and weighs about 10 pounds.

Trips to Goodwill to drop off items that are still good, but are a pain to sell, have been happening quite frequently lately.  One day on the way home from Goodwill we spotted a round solid oak pedestal table with claw feet.  The reason it was at the curb was because it has tile inlay on the top and the tile was cracked other than that, the table was fine.  So we threw it in the barn and I'll list it in the spring on CraigsList.  Maybe I can make a few bucks and buy something else that we don't need.