How to clean your clothes dryer

Drying freshly washed clothes might not seem like a messy task, but it actually involves a lot of heat, moisture, fluff, and grit. Every time your clothes dryer tumbles a load of laundry, minuscule fibres break off from the fabrics. Over time, these build up inside the internal components, which can significantly reduce your dryer’s efficiency. Regularly emptying the lint trap and leaving the door ajar after a cycle is a great start, but thoroughly cleaning your dryer every few months can help keep it working safely and efficiently.

When a dryer’s airflow is choked with lint, it has to work twice as hard to dry your clothes. This extra effort means your cycles will take longer, which drives up energy bills. More importantly, though, built-up lint combined with heat can create a fire hazard in your laundry. Taking a little time to clean your dryer properly every few months, therefore, will protect not only the machine but also your home.

Clogged clothes dryers are a leading cause of household fires. Lint is highly flammable, and when it accumulates around the heating elements, in the exhaust hose, or in other internal components, restricted airflow can prevent the machine from cooling properly - creating a serious fire risk. This is particularly true of vented and condenser dryers, which run at higher temperatures than heat pump models. If you ever notice a burning smell coming from your laundry room while your dryer is running, turn it off immediately and check for trapped lint before using it again.

As well as being a safety precaution, keeping these areas clear of build-up prevents energy being wasted on unnecessarily long drying cycles. When airflow is restricted, moisture gets trapped inside the drum, forcing the dryer to run for longer to dry the load. To stop electricity use from spiralling unnecessarily, take a few minutes every couple of months to give your dryer a deeper clean.

The lint filter is your machine's first line of defence against fluff, and it needs attention after every single load of laundry. Simply scraping the dry fluff off with your fingers after each use is a good start, but sometimes it needs a deeper clean. Over time, residues from fabric softeners, laundry detergents and dryer sheets can create a practically invisible, waxy film over the fine mesh that can stop air from passing through it.

To give it a deeper clean, remove the lint filter from its housing, remove any dry fluff with your fingers and then scrub the mesh thoroughly with a soft brush and warm soapy water. To test if it’s properly clean, pour a little water onto the mesh: if the water pools instead of running straight through, keep scrubbing. Let the filter dry completely before putting it back into the machine.

The lint filter is a key component when it comes to cleaning your dryer, but other parts need occasional attention too. Whether you have a heat pump, vented or condenser model, following the steps below will give your dryer a deeper clean. If you’re unsure of how to access any of the components that need cleaning, refer to your user manual for instructions and safety precautions (if you bought your dryer from Appliances Online, you should also be able to find a PDF of the user manual on your machine’s product page).

Heat pump dryers are increasingly popular because they recycle heat rather than blowing hot, damp air into your laundry room or ventilation ducting. Because they use a lower drying temperature - usually around 50°C compared to the 75°C used by vented dryers - and gentler drying motion, they are much more energy efficient and cause less damage to fabric. This results in less lint being produced, but because they don’t have an exterior vent, the fibre particles stay trapped inside, meaning regular maintenance is vital to prevent problematic build-up.

Vented dryers are the more traditional style of clothes dryer you might have grown up with. They remove moisture by blowing hot, wet air out through either ducted ventilation or directly into your laundry room. Each cycle creates a significant amount of lint: if your dryer is connected to ducted ventilation, the lint can make its way deep into the dryer duct, the vent hose, and the exterior vent opening, while non-ducted models expel this damp air (and some lint) directly into the room. Either way, cleaning the machine regularly is essential for maintaining good airflow and preventing it from overheating.

If you are unsure of how to access any of the components that need cleaning, refer to your dryer's user manual for specific instructions and safety precautions.

Condenser dryers extract moisture as vapour from your hot clothes and condense it into water, which either pumps away down a drain or collects in a removable tank. Like vented models, they dry at relatively high temperatures and create a significant amount of lint. Like heat pump models, however, they do not have an external vent, so all the fluff stays inside and can clog the removable condenser cassette - a block of metal plates that extracts moisture from the air. Washing this component every few months can keep your machine running more efficiently and economically.

If you are unsure of how to access any components that need cleaning, refer to your dryer's user manual for specific instructions and safety precautions.