Stephen

Does anyone know of a dryer vent that will actually seal off air flow when not in use? I have had a couple of customers complain of cold washrooms where a dryer is located. I'm in Winnipeg so temps have already been in the 5-10f range. All I can find are the outside cap vent with sm. louvers and sm animal screens. Tried a test by blocking the vent with fiberglass and the room temp. went up 3f. Thanks Stephen

mdshunk

There is a type of dryer vent termination that looks like a white plastic "can". It has a rising type damper, that is cone shaped. When the dryer is not in use, the cone comes down to "cork" or positively seal off the vent terminus. This type of dryer vent is usually marketed for it's excellent rodent exclusion properties, but it seals off very well from wind and cold as a side benefit. I'll try to find a link or picture of one.

mdshunk

Ahhh... here we go....

http://www.cetsolar.com/dryervent.htm

mdshunk

This guy just sent me an e-mail and said:

"For the reply to the dryer vent question, hope I can purchase these in Winnipeg, sent a e-mail to the co. link you sent me. Thank you Stephen"

Just wanted to bump this thread.

Bestheating

Just food for thought, if your dryer vent is drawing in outdoor air. If your home is newer, you should have makeup and combustion air intakes to the mechanical room. Combustion air venting goes to the room for the furnace and water heater. Makeup air venting on the other hand, goes generally to the return air trunk line on the furnace. This accomplishes using filtered air from the outdoors and gives it a chance to warm up prior to being introduced to the home.
You will have several things such as furnace, water heater, bath fans, fireplace, range hoods and more, taking air out of the home. The capacity of the makeup air may be exceeded, thus air coming into the dryer vent. Just food for thought...