dryer exhaust problem?
my friend owns a condo. He is on the first floor (ground) of a 3 story building. His ceilings are concrete, except in the kitchen, baths, and closets. There is about 18″ of space between his ceiling and his upstairs neighbors floor, to accommodate plumbing and electrical.
His dryer is located on the east wall of his unit (interior wall) vents upwards and then runs west about 40′ (aluminum flexible) where then it is connected to about 10′ of solid vent pipe before exiting outside.
At that connection, there is duct tape wrapped about 5 widths wide (don’t know if there are any screws under that tape). This connection is directly above his closet ceiling and leaks. Somebody before has obviously noticed this, and patched in new drywall. He has been living there 1 year and the ceiling paint/patching compound has bubbled up. We cut that open, realized that it had been patched all ready and are now left surmising what the problem is.
That ‘attic space’ between his ceiling and his neighbors floor is cold (Chicago area). So assuming the warm, moist, dryer air is meeting the cold, dry, exterior air, it appears that condensation is occurring.
That seam where the solid duct meets the flexible duct appears to be where the leak is coming from (it may also be that somehow rainwater or melting snow is entering from the outside). Either way, that seam actually comes to a subtle ‘V’ shape (apparently, the weight of the solid vent is causing it to pitch inwards towards that seam). Whoever patched it before shimmed up that solid pipe with some scrap drywall (2 pieces, 1/2″ each), there is room to lift that pipe about 6″.
What steps should be taken to ensure that the leak stops? Lift that solid pipe up more (thereby really guaranteeing that if any moisture/condensation occurs, it will flow outwards)? And how to best address that seam? Is there a better product than duct tape? A more industrial tape? A paste to spread at that seam?
Are there any more concerns that need to be addressed while we are up in there?
If we lift that solid pipe up, that ensures that at least, the last 10′ of that pipe will slope outwards, but what about the 40′ of flexible? By lifting the solid, that means that somewhere back along the flexible, there will be a drastic ‘V’ shape. Or, does it not matter that far inwards, and should we just focus on the 10′ of solid?
I hope that this is understandable, and apologize if too much of the wrong information is given.
thx for the fast response foodie and that reminds me of another point.
We are not able to replace any of the ducting that is already there, we need to be able to work with what is presently installed.
Does this sound like a candidate for some duct wrap, and if so, we’ll only be able to go about 2′ each direction from the seam. Will that even matter? We can not do the entire run, nor get to the closest point to the exterior wall, so any wrap will be starting about 8′ inwards. At that point is it even worth it?
Should we just focus on pitch and the best possible seam?
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