Household Help: Cleaning Dryer Lint Catcher

Did you know that it’s a good idea to clean out your dryer lint catcher on a regular basis? Yeah, it is.  NO, I don’t mean rub off the lint and put it back.  There is more, you ask?  YES!!!

I noticed that my dryer has been getting a little hotter than it should.  Actually, it’s always been an issue.  Even the repairman a while back said he thought something was amiss… but he couldn’t figure it out.  Comforting, right?  Anyway… I make a habit of cleaning up the lint tray and even vacuuming down as far as I can in the space where it goes.  I had seen a few posts, on Facebook and whatnot, suggesting cleaning the dryer lint screen and it really got me thinking… Maybe it was worth a shot.

So… this morning, I had some laundry related chores.  Since we started cloth diapering, my washer and dryer have taken on an annoying ammonia smell… so tackling that was on my list.  I’ll get into that in another post.  I figured that I should get that lint screen clean first, before I started anything special going in the dryer.

Anyway… here’s what I did.

I took the lint screen to the bathtub, I removed as much lint as I could before getting it wet.

Then, I ran it under water, with water flowing through each side.

I squirted a LOT of Blue DAWN Dishwashing soap onto the screen and stole one of my daughter’s used toothbrushes.  (I gave her a brand new one, I promise).  I scrubbed and scrubbed, first from the outside (the side the lint doesn’t sit on) and then from the inside.  The key is to do this very gently, so that you don’t ruin the shape of the screen.

I ran water through to rinse and repeated several times.  When I felt that the water was running through easily, I shook it dry and set it aside.

I came back a few minutes later to find that most of the water had evaporated, but a few areas were still holding it.  I wiped dry/clean with a clean rag.  Then, it seemed air & water would go through equally easily in all areas.

Believe it or not… it made a difference!  The screen is now clean… and I have  feeling that my clothes are going to dry more efficiently.  And BONUS – less fire hazard!  Go clean yours!