Lint, dryers and the cabinet in the same room

01

What lint does to a condenser

A dryer sheds fine fibre continuously, and far more of it than most people assume — from the door seal, from the vent connection, and from every load transferred in and out. A refrigeration condenser in the same room is a fan pulling air through a fine matrix, which makes it an extremely effective lint filter. The fins mat over, the coil stops rejecting heat, the compressor runs longer and hotter, and the cabinet eventually cannot hold in summer.

The distinctive thing about this fault is how fast it develops. A cabinet in a laundry room can foul in a year to a degree that would take a kitchen appliance five, and it will do it again once it is cleaned unless the arrangement changes.

02

Changing the arrangement

The remedies are unglamorous and they work. Make sure the dryer is actually venting outside through an intact duct rather than leaking at a joint. Keep the discharge and the refrigeration intake apart. Give the cabinet a clear route for its own air. And put the coil clean on a real schedule instead of waiting for the appliance to complain.

On a laundry-room call

• Condenser cleaned properly and the fan draw measured afterwards
• The route of the dryer duct, and whether any joint is leaking into the room
• Distance and orientation between the dryer discharge and the cabinet intake
• Ambient temperature and humidity in the room, logged against the cabinet
• Door seal and hinge, since a damp room is hard on a gasket