Easy Savings - Run your Dryer on Free Energy

Easy Savings - Run your Dryer on Free Energy
Modify your electric dryer to use free hot air and save energy.

Dryers only have one hose fitting. - To blow hot air out.
But this Instructable shows how to create a dryer hood with a fitting for a hot air intake hose.

Once the hood is attached, you connect the dryer to your hot air source with a dryer hose, and use free energy - hot air- to dry your clothes.

On hot summerdays , I use it to take hot attic air right into the dryer in my cool basement.
On warm days I use the air dry or the low temperature "Permanent-Press" setting.
In winter I use my dryer normally.

You can use your attic, a warm room, a solar heater, or you can use outdoor air as a source of warm or hot air. (The source of warm or hot air should be drafty, or open to a source of replacement air, like the outdoors.)

This Instructable helps you avoid consuming your indoor air, it makes your dryer more efficient, it saves energy on drying, and It can save on air conditioning cost too.

This Instructable is intended for electric dryers only, and is NOT recommended for gas models.
Modifying a gas model would present special challenges and hazards, which I have not addressed.

Material : Use a 4 foot roll of Aluminized Bubblepack plastic (Astro-foil) or similar material, a scissors, duct tape, plus scrap metal or cardboard and a dryer vent hose. Thats all thats needed. A screwdriver is optional.
 
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Step 1Unplug and Inspect

Unplug and Inspect
Unplug your drier , remove the exhaust vent hose, and inspect your Electric drier.
Look for the slotted vents in the back.
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109 comments
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Jun 21, 2009. 8:57 AMRandy Lahey says:
Thats one hell of a good idea. you could also use a solar hot air heater.
Jun 21, 2009. 12:44 PMiPodGuy says:
You should win some sort of award for this. Fantastic idea!
Jun 21, 2009. 1:16 PMlemonie says:
I like the idea of piping (otherwise useless) hot air from your loft / attic. But I can't help wondering whether hanging clothes outside on a line is something you just don't do where you live? L
Jun 21, 2009. 1:50 PMlemonie says:
I see, it wasn't clear where you lived. I make the best efforts to use the free energy available from the sun, but sometimes things stay out for a day 'cos they got rained-on... Thanks for filling us in on that! L
Jun 21, 2009. 2:25 PMlemonie says:
Clapping? L
Jun 21, 2009. 5:32 PMBeest921 says:
This is one of those "Well why didn't I think of that?!" ideas! BRILLIANT!
Jun 21, 2009. 5:55 PMBroom says:
Seconded: brilliant. And, kudos for emphasizing the safety aspects of a gas dryer. One quibble: instead of venting dryer air directly into the house in the winter, it should be filtered for fine particles. The exhaust from a dryer has a lot of super-fine lint in it, and this can build up and cause a fire hazard if the dryer is located near a hot water heater or furnace (as is true for many people). I overcame this by building a 2'-long "sock" of muslin, which I duct-taped to the output of my dryer. A couple times a year I would detach it and clean it out. The sock (just a bag) is big enough to not clog up easily, filtering the dust.
Jun 21, 2009. 6:51 PMBroom says:
Ah, missed that! Much more attractive than my solution, although I just tucked my "exhaust sock" behind the dryer, where it was unseen throughout the winter. By summer, of course, I wanted the hot air vented out.
Jun 21, 2009. 10:30 PMGilo says:
Back in the old country, we use hot air heated by a solar heat trap to dry grain.
Jun 23, 2009. 8:46 AMbenkline says:
my friend blew his dryer exhaust into his garage to heat it as a extra hang out space - mold grew everywhere. it was disgusting. is there anyway to de-humidify the moist air before blowing it into your basement?
Jul 6, 2009. 4:36 PMheadone says:
Love this, anyway I can save a buck I will. Thanks well thought out.
Jul 15, 2009. 9:45 PMscottfromscott says:
Great idea using hot attic air. Here in south Louisiana attic temperatures can exceed 135 degrees. Find a way to use solar panels to run the dryer motor and you could dry your clothes for free!
Aug 6, 2009. 10:28 AMScottSEA says:
My wife and I have started hanging our clothes on a line again. Works great, uses zero energy.
Aug 6, 2009. 11:44 AMlemonie says:
It's good if you can. L
Aug 22, 2009. 10:44 AMarutkow says:
I love this idea! Just imagine if you could trap all of the heat that results as a by-product of our daily living (the lcd tv, the computers, the refridgerator, the bath exhaust, the stove and over heat) and trap it all in 1 room, them just draw from it as you needed heat for drying or other needs. I know its not practical because of the smells, grease, moisture, and ductwork, but your plan shows how much extra energy there is already in out house. Very cool plan. -Abram
Sep 29, 2009. 2:02 AMronmaggi says:
How about pulling air from your A/C's condenser? It seem's to be a good source of heat.
Dec 20, 2009. 10:58 AMdivolb says:
Whats wrong with a good ol' close line?  Maybe it rains a lot?  Winters are too cold?
Mar 7, 2010. 5:42 PMWoodenbikes says:
Great Energy saving project!  I want to make one.
Jun 26, 2010. 8:06 AMjoneser005 says:
Living in Missouri, where the summers are hot, but also very humid, I wonder how much longer the dryer would have to run to compensate for using air high in humidity to dry the clothes. Vs. the dryer (!) air-conditioned air.... Would there still be a net energy savings or would the extended run time be a wash?
Oct 1, 2009. 12:49 PMphotogirlmim says:
Couldn't just add a lint filter to the intake and use the exhaust for your source also?
May 6, 2010. 1:19 PMmillenniumtree says:
Not only that, but if you have a gas dryer, the oxygen in the exhaust will be less than the intake.  Less oxygen means more carbon monoxide production.

Whatever you do, do not EXHAUST the dryer into the attic or into the house - that's a recipe for disaster.  The excess moisture in the air will rot your walls out, and with a gas dryer, the combustion gases could kill you.
It's also a good idea to replace your plastic exhaust hose (illegal in most places) with a smooth metal pipe.  Less chance for the dryer to ignite the lint in the plastic and burn your house down.  o_O

As the instructable describes, sucking INTAKE air from a hot area seems like a very effective way to reduce your energy consumption.

Cool idea.
Oct 19, 2010. 9:17 PMbgblkcoma says:
first the lint particles are smaller then the filter 'sock' so lint particles will still be able to pass through, it will collect lint but not all of the small particles that be come airborne and you then breath in and become a health issue. Second you do not want to vent any dryer into any living space in you home, especially a gas dryer cause of the gas exhaust carbon monoxide.
Sep 9, 2011. 1:50 PMvov35 says:
While his idea obviously has a number of problems, how about procuring some aluminium heat sinks, and connecting them back-to-back... if you run your intake and exhaust lines close enough, you should be able to transfer a little extra heat from the exhaust to the intake without the problems of a closed loop of moisture of combustion by-products.

I'm assuming the exhaust is going to be hotter than the intake.
Dec 18, 2010. 7:27 PMtinstructable says:
In the winter, the hot air output should be routed to the attic to reduce heating costs.
Sep 4, 2011. 2:03 PMstresser says:
I would highly advise against that!

In winter the attic temperature is much lower than the dryer exhaust. This cools the exhaust. Cool air holds a lot less moisture, than hot air. When this happens it condenses into water droplets, water droplets all over your framing and worse, your insulation.

A load of laundry can have a gallon of water in it, if you do a load every day, for 4 months when the weather is cool, you would put 120 gallons of water into your attic as if you misted it in.

you might get a way with it for a while if the temperature is not below freezing and has a lot more ventilation than most attics, however, if it does get below freezing, once it warms above after winter all 120 gallons would melt in a day or so.

Please don't do this, you can cause problems ranging from mould and rot of structure, to severe water damage of your living space.
Aug 2, 2011. 1:52 AMraziz says:
it's not like she's venting moisture into the house all day and all year round.

cooking, boiling water and showers probably put more moisture into the house, and these activities might as well be more hazardous/accident prone than putting up a heating recycle system that also moisten the air sometimes.

this is a great idea to save energy with little cost, and better still when put into practice.
Jul 27, 2011. 10:27 AMneedsnumbers says:
Now I'm just going to go one step further with this... why not simply take your cloths and hang them in the attic with a box fan blowing across them? No need for a dryer ;)
Kind of fun thinking out of the box (or dryer in this case).
On topic; Great idea for not only reclaiming energy, but also saving energy! Love it!
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Author:DrChill