Home Improvement Thread

[DigitalGypsy66]

I know it needs cleaning when my wife starts dodinting about how the dryer sucks.

I take off the PVC grate at the end of the exhaust vent outside.

I take the dryer, pull it away from the wall, detach the dryer vent hose.

Plug in the leaf blower, stuff it down the exhaust vent...crank it up.

10 lbs of lint go flying all over my neighbor's yard.

[AuthorTony]

This is all news to me.

[dodint]

Right?

[Dickie Dunn]

I can say with 100% certainty that my parents, who have lived in their house for 30 years, have never blown out or sucked out the dryer exhaust. Sounds like fear mongering nonsense to me.

[dodint]

I lived in a single-level house in NC that had the w/d in the middle of the house. They built a duct for the dryer hose that ran the length of my garage, longwise. That has to be full of a metric ton of material if what you guys are saying is true.

[AuthorTony]

I'm going to try this now. I haven't done this since I bought the house 10 years or however long it's been. I bought it from my parents and I'm pretty damn sure they never did it. So, it's been slowly clogging up for ~45 years.

Edit: Mine would have a really short run though. Maybe 10 feet max.

[dodint]

I'm going to try this now...So, it's been slowly clogging up for ~45 years.

[nocera]

I cleaned mine for the first time about a year after we moved in. The previous owner clearly never cleaned it as there was not one section of the pipe that didn’t have a layer of hardened lint around it. I took it completely apart, cleaned it, and re-ran it. It was a pain in the ass but it seemed necessary after I saw how bad it was.

[AuthorTony]

I'm going to try this now...So, it's been slowly clogging up for ~45 years.

[NTP66]

Probably a number of factors, but if you’ve got flexible tubing, I’d be more worried than solid ductwork.

[DigitalGypsy66]

All I know is that our clothes dry more quickly after I clean the vent pipe out. I was exaggerating about ten pounds of lint, but it is softball sized if packed back together. It's about a 12 foot long run from the laundry room to the exterior wall.

[nocera]

Probably a number of factors, but if you’ve got flexible tubing, I’d be more worried than solid ductwork.

Mine was solid tubing and it was terrible. I’m guessing that was at least 10-15 years of lint.

[Shyster]

I've never cleaned out my dryer vent, either. But on the other hand my vent run is probably about two feet long.

[meow]

Hehe. Shys-daddy has a short vent

[Tomas]

This may be a really basic newbie question, but:

After 2 decades of living in a secluded bliss of privacy that 3-acres of forested land can provide, we recently bought a house in a relatively ritzy subdivision (primarily because of much better school district). Which means that for the first time in my life, I will have to put out some Christmas decor. I am fairly scared of putting any electric cords outside of my house, but here we go. We will be putting out this:

https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark ... od25603423

It's rated for indoor&outdoor use, and it has a 3-meter long cord. I *think* I can install it without the need for an extension cord, but I am not 100% sure.

This is how the outlet on the side of the house:



So, basically, my question is:

What do I have to do to minimize a chance of death by electrocution? More specifically

A) If I don't need an extension cord - is it safe to just plug the main cord into the outdoor outlet?

B) If I do need an extension cord - what should I buy and how should I connect the 2 parts to make sure water does not get in?

Thanks!

[NTP66]

Source of the post A) If I don't need an extension cord - is it safe to just plug the main cord into the outdoor outlet?

B) If I do need an extension cord - what should I buy and how should I connect the 2 parts to make sure water does not get in?

A) Yes, but make sure that you're using an outdoor rated extension cord

B) Buy a bunch of these:

I use them for all of my outdoor decorations, and they work exceptionally well. Not once have I had an issue with water getting in there. Also, I have a few of these, which comes in handy when you put out a lot of stuff that requires electricity:

[Tomas]

Source of the post A) If I don't need an extension cord - is it safe to just plug the main cord into the outdoor outlet?

B) If I do need an extension cord - what should I buy and how should I connect the 2 parts to make sure water does not get in?

A) Yes, but make sure that you're using an outdoor rated extension cord

B) Buy a bunch of these:

I use them for all of my outdoor decorations, and they work exceptionally well. Not once have I had an issue with water getting in there. Also, I have a few of these, which comes in handy when you put out a lot of stuff that requires electricity:

Thanks for such a quick reply!! Now - just as a clarification: Question A was : Just in case I do *NOT* need an extension cord - is it reasonably safe to put the main power cord of the "indoor&outdoor" rated decor device straight into the outdoor power plug (which has that plastic see-through cover) or should I be wrapping the main power cord into something? (As I said, electricity scares the **** out of me - but since everybody on the cul-de-sac will have decor, so shall we...)

[NTP66]

Source of the post just as a clarification: Question A was : Just in case I do *NOT* need an extension cord - is it reasonably safe to put the main power cord of the "indoor&outdoor" rated decor device straight into the outdoor power plug (which has that plastic see-through cover) or should I be wrapping the main power cord into something?

You can absolutely plug it directly into your outdoor outlet.

[skullman80]

We use Kasa outdoor Smart plugs...and any extension cords ends we just wrap up in plastic bags and duck tape it. Never had issues.

Kasa Smart Outdoor Smart Plug KP400, Smart Home Wi-Fi Outlet with 2 Sockets, Works with Alexa, Google Home &IFTTT, No Hub Required, Sunset & Sunrise Offset

[NTP66]

I have some smart plugs, but use the 3-outlet digital outdoor timer for that stuff.

[skullman80]

I just set timers with the smart plugs to turn on and off, plus sometimes I just like saying "Alexa" turn on the christmas lights and see the whole outside light up haha.

[meow]

One plug? Jesus Christ people. Let’s not overcomplicate this. If the cord reaches, plug that **** into the outlet and you are fine. If it doesn’t, buy an outdoor extension cord then plug that **** into the outlet. Where the decoration plug and the extension cord plug come together, wrap some electrical tape around it.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I have never wrapped electric tape around decoration plugs and extension cords and never had an issue.

[dodint]

Same.

[mac5155]

Yeah your outlets should be GFCI rated for dampness. Plug and go