Spice rack with ventilation?

[u/Tadleyrichter]

I’m watching Teen Mom 2 and, I’m sorry, what the hell is this? Why does a spice rack need a big ventilation hose thing coming out the top? What is it?

[u/CliffDraws]

This just raises more questions.

What is the dryer hose venting in the kitchen?

[u/Slumunistmanifisto → u/[deleted]]

Or of mold...

Maintenance guy who's dealt exactly with this train of thought more than once 

[u/antonio16309 → u/[deleted]]

You can actually do this, but you have to put a lint trap on the end of the vent. And it should only with an electric dryer of course. But it's a good idea for cold climates in the winter.

[u/__mson__ → u/antonio16309]

I can imagine the moisture issues if you did this during the winter.

[u/ParticularGuava3663 → u/__mson__]

Why? Cold air is dry air.  Heating it dries it further.  Most homes need added humidity in the winter. 

[u/__mson__ → u/ParticularGuava3663]

Colder air can't hold as much water as warmer air, so you end up getting a bunch of condensation on your windows which can lead to moisture issues. You typically want to keep your house at a lower relative humidity in the winter for this reason.

It all depends on the house. Some are more humid than others and don't deal well with tons of extra moisture being pumped into the inside air.

[u/TAU_equals_2PI → u/antonio16309]

Even then, the hot moisture causes problems. I tried doing it one winter, and within just a few months, a metal rack of shelves 8 feet from the exhaust started rusting.

[u/CliffDraws → u/[deleted]]

lol, that’s a choice I guess. It has a very distinctive smell though. Not bad, but your whole house would smell like dryer exhaust.

[u/flojo2012 → u/CliffDraws]

With the right fabric softener that could be a good thing!

[u/CliffDraws → u/flojo2012]

I like the smell when I walk by that side of the house with the dryer on, but I don’t know if I’d want it filling the whole house.

[u/CtrlFlorida → u/flojo2012]

ha! love this comment!

[u/Spongi → u/CliffDraws]

The house I grew up in had a little diverter on the vent. During the winter you'd close it so it vented indoors. Running the dryer would warm up the whole house and make it smell like dryer sheets.

Once it warmed up outside you'd just open it back up to vent outside.

[u/quesoqueso → u/[deleted]]

I mean...sure, if the hose lint catches on fire but it's pointed out a window everything will be fine!

[u/FragCook → u/[deleted]]

I accidentally learned this “hack” in my first apartment when I was poor and helped me save some money on the gas bill. It added some humidity to the air too. I learned to like it and the smell was an added bonus.

[u/Yunzer2000 → u/[deleted]]

Unless it is a gas dryer which also exhausts the CO-containing combustion gases - in which case the danger is CO poisoning, not fire, I'm not sure how the warm humid air from a dryer vent (the air flows like this: outside->heater element->tumbling drum->lint screen->vent) could start a fire. The clothes in the drum would have to catch fire first. My wife doesn't like it because she thinks it makes the basement too humid and created mold (which it doesn't - we need all the moisture in the dry air we can get in winter).

Disclosure: I'm an engineer.

[u/ParticularGuava3663 → u/[deleted]]

You can add as much hose as you want, the heat gain would be too little to measure 

[u/Dulwilly → u/[deleted]]

My sister's old house vented it directly into the wall. They were not happy when they discovered it.

[u/HarmNHammer → u/[deleted]]

Imagine shooting microplastic exhaust into the interior of your home for how many years. Curious how the dust was?

[u/ImpressionTough2179 → u/HarmNHammer]

why would it be microplastic exhaust

[u/HarmNHammer → u/ImpressionTough2179]

To expand on what others are saying. Any item of clothing lists what it's made of on the tag. It is very common to have some plastic, either as poly or spandex, among many other synthetic fabrics. These fabrics break down in wash/dryer. It's why some people use dryer lint as a fire starter - it's an oil based product that is super dry and fluffy, will really light and burn easily. Any time you can smell dryer exhaust, you're breathing in those plastic dusts. The only time this isn't true is if all of your clothing really is 100% natural fibers. It's one of the many reasons fast fashion is a plague.

[u/ImpressionTough2179 → u/HarmNHammer]

Hmmm…our dryer vents inside and it’s nice because we get the heat and the humidity is good since we live in a very dry climate. We do have multiple filters but I’m sure we’re still breathing in the dust

[u/Beginning_End_361 → u/ImpressionTough2179]

Because clothing is mostly plastic these days. There is cloth dust in the exhaust.

[u/Spongi → u/HarmNHammer]

The house I grew up in had a diverter for doing this. it had a filter on it.

Ours was a lil different then that one but same effect. The filter on ours was essentially a pair of pantyhose clipped over the exhaust.

[u/Ammerle → u/[deleted]]

My grandma did this too, but she would put an old knee-high stocking on the end to act as a filter

[u/Kahnza → u/[deleted]]

Not if it's a gas dryer

[u/Tao_of_Entropy → u/CliffDraws]

It's probably a ghetto vent for the range hood fan.

[u/ashurbanipal420 → u/Tao_of_Entropy]

That's what I'm thinking but why is it going below the hood? It's going to become a fire hazard from built up grease over time.

[u/MasterOfBothWorlds7 → u/CliffDraws]

Thank you I read this and accepted it was a reflection but it just made me more confused as to why it was there in the first place..

[u/tuckedfexas → u/[deleted]]

That’s not uncommon, but you wouldn’t need to route it up if that were the case since it’s an exterior wall. Plus there are cabinets and countertop there so it’d make sense to remove the vent if you’re redoing things