I finally got it clean. I resprayed it with SprayNWash and left it sit all afternoon. That and a lot of scrubbing with a nylon scratchy pad finally got rid of all the clogging stuff. I thought I was going to need to try to buy a new one.

Glad you fixed that, Westelle. Someone recently sent me an email about the fire danger of a clogged dryer filter, especially if one uses fabric softener sheets in the dryer. It mentioned a test: Turn on the water and run the filter under the water. The water should of course run right through the little holes in the filter. Don't be surprised if the holes look clear and the water doesn't run through, was the message of the email. I haven't tried it yet but we don't use fabric softeners of any type. Still a good thing to try though.

Last year I passed by the laundry room and it smelled hot. I put my hand on top of the dryer and it was very hot to the touch and hadn't been running long. Hubby checked the vent to the outside, and sure enough it was clogged right where it exits the house. I still wonder: What if we left the dryer on and left the house for the day??? (something we wouldn't do anyway, but what if.......)

Jen

My dryer makes a loud whistle when something's clogged and the hot air isn't leaving the machine -- safety feature. I knew something was wrong when it started the whistling the minute I turned on the dryer - AFTER having cleaned the lint off the catcher. I too got the FWD about the lint filter being caked, which is why I checked that first. I'm going to pay more attention in the future... it took a lot of elbow grease to get it clean... I think because it was sooooo caked on.

I had the chimney sweep clean out the whole vent pipe the last time he was here for the fireplace chimneys. We have a long vent pipe and he has looong brushes. The dryer vent was dirtier than the chimneys! I don't imagine that vent had ever been cleaned in the 12 years of this house's existence. The stuff we never think about!

My mother used to use her old pantyhose. When it got clogged, she put a new pair on. FWIW.

Ryan

Ryan: I would be concerned the the nylon hosery would melt.... not so????

Hers never did and it was a gas dryer. Their new dryer vents outside, no filter.

Ryan