Why Your Clothes Are Taking Forever to Dry (And How to Fix It)

You put a load of towels in the dryer. You set it for 60 minutes. You come back an hour later, open the door, and get hit with a blast of steam. The towels are still damp.

So you run it again. And maybe even a third time.

If this sounds familiar, stop blaming your dryer. 90% of the time, the machine is fine. The vent is choked.

I get calls every week from homeowners in Katy and Cypress thinking they need to buy a new $800 dryer. I go out there, clean the vent, and suddenly their 10-year-old machine works like new.

The Science of Airflow (Ideally)

Your dryer does two things: it heats air, and it pushes that moist air out of your house.

If the exhaust vent is clogged with lint, that moisture has nowhere to go. It stays in the drum. Your dryer turns into a steamer. You are basically boiling your clothes dry, which ruins the fabric and skyrockets your electric bill.

Why "DIY" Often Fails

I see a lot of homeowners try to fix this with a Shop-Vac or a leaf blower.

Here is the problem: Length and Turns.

Most dryer runs in Houston homes are long. They go up into the attic, turn, run 20 feet, and then exit the roof. A Shop-Vac doesn't have the static pressure to pull a clog from 25 feet away. A leaf blower might blow a loose bird's nest out, but it won't scrub the sticky, humidity-hardened lint off the walls of the pipe.

You might clear the first 3 feet and think you’re done, while the real blockage is sitting right at the elbow in your attic.

The Cost of Ignoring It

Ignoring a slow dryer costs you money every month.

• Energy Bills: Running a dryer for 2-3 cycles doubles or triples the cost of every load.
• Wear and Tear: You are putting double the hours on your dryer's heating element and motor. It will burn out faster.
• Clothing Damage: Excessive heat breaks down fibers. Your clothes wear out sooner.

The Fix is Simple

If your dryer takes more than one cycle to dry a standard load, you need a professional vent cleaning.

We come in, disconnect the dryer, and snake a rotary brush through the entire length of the duct—from the back of the dryer all the way to the roof cap. We scrub it clean and verify airflow before we leave.

Stop wasting electricity and time.

Call Houston Air Rescue at 281-845-4011 to get your dryer running like new.