I have an electric dryer with a vertical vent that clogs very quickly.
@JustinAtSense, any similar research in progress or planned for dirty coils on an AC unit or fridge? Just curious.
None as of right now, @ramon. We’re looking at a few other research projects that touch on A/C’s and HVAC that will hopefully be expanded to the public in the coming weeks 
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@JustinAtSense, just letting you know that I deep cleaned my dryer and vents this morning, and I’m about to dry a load of towels, so we’ll see if it made much of any difference or not. Feel free to look at my data (for science!)
The dryer itself had quite a bit of lint build up inside; I used a long brush and a vacuum attachment to remove a LOT. But my outside vent is about 1-2ft away from the dryer itself so there wasn’t much to clean with the vent hose.
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Here is another variable: I think the duration of the dryer cycle depends on the load (how many pieces of clothing), the type of fabric (some retain more water) and the specific dryer cycle (there are many). I’m guessing the study makes sense if one is consistent with the load/duration, but when there are multiple people at home, and each runs their ‘own’ cycle/preferences wouldn’t that makes the detection a bit more complicated?
Essentially we’re looking for a good SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio), the signal being whether the vent is clogged, and the noise being all the variable conditions one can run the dryer at. This is tempting to do a true DOE (Design of Experiments) and assess the SNR.
My dryer vents directly through a single wall and outside. Not even a 6 inch run. I would be happy to help you with this. It would be an easy simulation.
We’ve done deep-dives on dryers in the blog before and there are standardized variables for efficiency testing. This is a great resource for understanding the criteria and testing variables: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ene_14060901a.pdf
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Very enlightening report. Thank you for sharing.
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Have not read all the threads here… We have a 3 year old washer and dryer set… Electric dryer… My main point here is the washer spins at a very high rpm and really gets the water out of the cloths. The drum is full of small holes all around and the washer motor is an integral part of the drum for 2 reasons… 1. It finds its own axis for balancing. 2. There is no belt and pully system so higher rpm’s and be reached… When we put clothes in the dryer on ‘sense’ dry mode… It’s first estimate is 100 or so minutes. Most of the time for the load and it varies… is done in 20-30 minutes… Thay have come a long way to save energy… My 2 cents…Gerry BTW…Have a very short run on a smooth aluminum vent… From middle of dryer right out the sidewall, halfway across the dryer then outside…
My Maytag is about 12 years old … and still runs great. What you describe reminds me of a washer made by a french company a long time back (~40 years) and they called it “Thomson Soleil” … It spun so fast, there was no need to hang your clothes for drying … or so they claimed (assuming you’re okay with the wrinkles). Back then the idea of a dryer for the common household was unheard of (at least east of the pond). I suspect the centrifugal forces would be so high that special design measures needed to be implemented or the rotor will self-destruct. In any event, I plan to move one of my roaming smart plugs KP-115 to few devices and see how much they ‘consume’, including both the washer and (gas) dryer…
drjb… Goto about 1:40 to 4:20 and you will see the stator…? that I was talking about… Later…Gerry
Thank you, that design is sure a beauty, and reminds of an ISAD (Integrated Starter Alternator Damper project in a prior life). I promised myself that my next washer will be a horizontal axis (more efficient). The ‘spider’ failure near 20:00 is sure of concern, wonder if it’s a faulty design/part or more likely an unbalanced drum during a high spin cycle (possibly a resonance conditions, but should have been caught by some acceleration sensor). Curious as to what the repair cost was, compared to buying a whole new unit.
drjb No sure what to say about the failure… When ours spins up after a wash or rinse it sounds out of balance for about 3-5 seconds then goes quiet. Towels jeans etc… It sometimes will not spin up real fast for the first time. Will stop reverse and spin up again what seems to managing the out of balance issue. Spins faster and longer. Sense will see the current and show 1 watt when it has stopped and reversing. It may be like you are thinking… my spin… no pun… When the old Chevy Vega transmission went out… Dispose of it and buy a new one… Later…Gerry
Replacing dryer? Consider ‘heat pump’ dryer & stop sending all that expensive conditioned indoor air outside. You can temporarily plug or permanently seal your dryer vent that’s normally open 24/7.
Bosch makes a self cleaning model so say goodbye to the clogged vent problem!