It is a short job, an hour or so for a typical residential run, and almost all of the value is in two steps most people would not guess. Here is the whole thing, in order.
1. The machine comes out
The dryer is pulled forward far enough to reach the connection at the wall. Before anything is cleaned, the technician looks at three things:
- The transition hose. The short connector between the machine and the wall. If it is the flexible foil accordion type, crushed behind the machine, or torn, it wants replacing. This is the single most common defect we find in a laundry room.
- The connection at the wall. Whether it is properly seated and clamped, or held together by tape and optimism.
- On a gas machine, the gas connection. A loose or corroded connection is worth catching whether or not you called about it. One of our customers had exactly that found during a routine clean.
2. The line is worked from the inside
A rotating brush on a flexible rod is driven down the run from the laundry side, with a vacuum capturing what comes loose. The brush breaks the packed lint apart rather than pushing it further along, which matters at every elbow: shoving a lint plug into a turn makes the next person’s job harder and leaves the restriction in place.
Compressed air is used alongside the brush on longer runs to move material that has compacted.
3. The exterior hood comes off and the line is worked from the outside
This is the step that separates the job from a consumer brush kit, and it is where the actual blockage usually is.
Lint accumulates where air slows down, and the slowest point in the whole run is the termination, where the damper flap adds resistance and the air leaves the pipe. A line can be perfectly clear for the first six feet and packed solid at the hood. Working it only from the inside pushes material toward that plug rather than removing it.
The hood comes off, the last section is cleared, and the housing is cleaned out.
4. The damper and the hood get checked
The flap has to open under airflow and close when the machine stops. The failures we find are consistent:
- lint packed behind the flap so it cannot swing
- a bird or rodent nest built over the summer
- a wire screen someone added, which catches lint by design and blocks the vent within months
- a hood rusted through or painted shut, common near the shore
If the hood itself is the problem, replacing it is a better outcome than cleaning it again in six months, and we will say so.
5. The machine is reconnected and run
The dryer goes back, the connection is remade, and the machine is run. The technician goes outside and confirms the flap is fully open with a strong flow of warm air.
This is the verification step. An install or a clean that has not been run is one nobody has checked.
6. You get the photographs and the plain summary
We photograph the lint that came out and anything worth showing you: a crushed transition hose, a bad route, a nest. Then you get a straight statement of what we found and whether anything else is worth doing.
Sometimes that summary is “nothing, this line is in good shape, see you in a year.” That is a legitimate outcome and you should expect to hear it when it is true.
What we do not do
We do not use the visit to sell you a duct cleaning. They are different systems, and if your ductwork also needs attention we will tell you what we saw and let you decide separately.
We do not run a chemical treatment down a dryer line. There is nothing to treat: it is lint, and the fix is mechanical.
How long, and what you need to do first
About an hour for a typical run. Longer for a second-floor laundry, a roof termination, or a stacked closet installation where the machine is awkward to move.
Before we arrive, clear enough space to pull the machine forward, and make sure we can get to the exterior hood. If the hood is behind a hedge, above a conservatory roof or on the second storey, mention it when you book so the right ladder is on the truck.
The service page has the rest of the detail, including the signs that mean you are overdue.
