Dryer vent air sealing systems
Scott Razzino| Posted inEnergy Efficiency and Durabilityon
My dryer vent piping still leaks air into the laundry room. I have installed a weighted door flap unit made of powder coat painted steel (Lowe’s Purchase). The flap door now closes unlike before with the cheap aluminum one I had. Is there another option on the inside of the house at the dryer vent pipe to install a tighter closing door? There is still air infiltration. Does anyone have any websites or products to recommend. I have the same problem with my kitchen range vent. The home is in Atlanta GA. The dryer pipe goes under the laudry room floor in the crawlspace ceiling area and out the rear of the laundry room.
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Replies
I would install a Seiho wall cap. They perform a lot better than the usual hardware store / lumberyard stuff.
Is it connected to your dryer? I am surprised you can feel that much air if it is connected to your dryer. You could maybe try a butterfly damper - they make some that open in only one direction. Although I would put it in an area that would be easy to clean - it may also end up being a lint trap.
Could possibly be a code violation, would check on that too.
Scott,
Here's a link to the Seiho termination mentioned by David:
http://www.seiho.com/product/rcarcc/rcarcc.html
Here's another option: a high-quality plastic termination from EFI:
http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/30_742_110
The link to the plastic vent in Martin's comment is broken, but based on a discussion forum at Fine Homebuilding with the same broken link, I think he was pointing to a Heartland vent. That makes sense because he has recommended those in other discussions.
Often recommended is the Heartland Dryer Vent. I put one in the new house. During the blower door test a couple of weeks back I forgot to seal off the duct connected to it; the duct was completely open on the inside. Even with the house depressurized, I couldn't feel a thing coming out of that duct.