Kitchen Gas Appliances - Is something wrong with my new GE Profile Gas Dryer...?

I just bought a new Dryer. My old dryer took way too long to dry stuff (70-80 minutes or so), and it would shrink the clothes from overdrying. So I figured I wouldn't mess around, and I looked into a dryer that people said was fast and that had sensors, so the clothes wouldn't get over-dried. I ended up getting a DPSE810GGWT (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02656892000P). Pretty much every review I read was positive, talking about how efficient it was, and quiet, and dried fast, and the sensor, and blah blah.

So I get it, and install it and run through a load of dress casual clothes. Mostly khakis and polo shirts with some cotton t-shirts in the mix. It's a decent sized load, but in the cavernous drum of the new dryer, the load looked like an ant-hill. I figured it would make quick work of this load. I was wrong. It took over 90 minutes to dry it. I thought that maybe it was a fluke or that something else was wrong. I looked around for ideas on why a dryer would take so long, and I saw some comments about checking the exhaust for clogs. So I did. Not only that, I shortened the exahust by probably 6-8 feet just to see if that would help. Then I ran another almost identical load of khakis/polos which was about the same size. After 40 minutes or so I went to check on it to see how it was doing. The "time remaining" said zero, and it was just tumbling the clothes with no heat. So I thought, "maybe shortening that exhaust really helped." Again, I was wrong. The clothes weren't anywhere *near* dry. I closed the door and turned it back on, but the "time remaining" still said zero, and I don't think it was using any heat. So I canceled the cycle and started it over. An hour or so later, it was finally done... yet another 90+ minute load.

I thought maybe I did something wrong with the settings, but I checked and double-checked. I put the heat on Medium. The Dryness level on "Dry", and the Cycle type on "Mixed Load". So what is the deal? This is slower than the crappy, ten+ year old dryer I replaced. Should I be calling for a repair, or is this dryer just that slow?


WATYF

Old dryer was probably ok Clean vent to outside. To make sure it's vent try drying a load of clothes without vent hooked up. Open doors and windows there will be a lot of heat and humidity.

Hello WATYF and Welcome into the Gas Appliances topic.

Not very likely is the new dryer at fault for the excessively long dry times. Most likely, as co-moderator pugsl mentioned, the existing dryers venting system is at fault.

You mentioned shorting the venting length by six to eight feet...???....:confused:

If you removed 6-8 feet, what was the prior vent length....:confused:

May not have been any problem with the prior dryer.......:eek:

Questions that need answers to are:
#1
What was is the present venting length in feet???
#2
How many elbows are in the venting system???
#3
Does the vent have any vertical lengths??? If so, by how much footage upward???
#4
Is there any bends, kinks and/or other potential restrictions in the venting system???
#5
Is the flapped door in the exhaust vents hood fully opening???
#6
Is the flapper able to freely open and close???
#7
What type of vent material is used??? Metal tubing or Plastic???

As you can determine by the many questions that need to be answered above, there is far more possible causes then simply blaming the machine for the long (excessive) dry times.

Once all the above questions are answered and all the conditions are known, the most likely cause(s) can be determined. Most likely not a problem with the dryer.

Also, try the test mentioned. Run a load without any vent installed and note the drying time. Should be a more normal time. If so, then the venting system is the cause.

Suggested Reading....:thumbup:
Additional advice pertaining to venting systems can be found HERE (http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=159481)

Lenghts and number of elbows, etc. info in the sticky note.

Use the reply button to add additional information or questions. Using the reply button keeps or moves the topic back up to the top of the list automatically and keeps all communications on this subject in this thread.

#1
What was is the present venting length in feet???
#2
How many elbows are in the venting system???
#3
Does the vent have any vertical lengths??? If so, by how much footage upward???
#4
Is there any bends, kinks and/or other potential restrictions in the venting system???
#5
Is the flapped door in the exhaust vents hood fully opening???
#6
Is the flapper able to freely open and close???
#7
What type of vent material is used??? Metal tubing or Plastic???

1) The current length is about ten feet, I'd say.. maybe twelve... so previously it was 18-20.

2) None. It used to have an elbow in it, but I removed that when I shortened it.

3) It goes up and vents out the wall at about 5-6 feet off the ground. Originally, it ran along the ground for several feet and then went straight upwards to the port in the wall, but now it kind of gradually makes its way upward at a diagonal level (since I shortened it).

4) It turns a corner, but not excessively sharply, and there are no kinks.

5) I believe so, but I can run a test load and make sure. It opened fine when I blew into it while removing the extra tubing.

6) Yes.

7) It's that silver flexible corrugated stuff. Not metal. Kind of a mix between fabric and tin foil.

WATYF

For starters, for the duct to meet IRC requirements, it must comply with:

M1502.4 which limits "flexible transition ducts" connecting dryer to rigid exhaust duct to one piece, max 8 feet in length, and listed and labeled per UL 2158A.

Beyond 8 feet he duct needs to comply with:

M1502.5 which requires >= 0.016-inch-thick rigid metal, smooth interior surfaces, joints running in the direction of air flow, no fastening means which extend into the duct.

The termination of the duct must comply with:

M1502.6 <= 25 feet dryer location to the wall or roof termination. Less 2.5 feet for each 45 and 5 feet for each 90-degree (not inc transition duct).

Exceptions: Length per manufacturer’s installation instructions. Large-radius 45-and 90-degree bends, per engineering calculations per ASHRAE Fundamentals Handbook.

------------------

I agree with other posters here that a properly configured ten foot duct with a properly operating vent termination listed for use as a dryer exhaust and a single 90 degree elbow should not interfere with proper operation of a gas dryer.

With the dryer running, is warm moist exhaust present at the termination? If so, is it preset at the the duct's connection to the dryer?

---------

Home Inspection: ""A business with illogically high liability, slim profit margins and limited economies of scale. An incredibly diverse, multi-disciplined consulting service, delivered under difficult in-field circumstances, before a hostile audience in an impossibly short time frame, requiring the production of an extraordinarily detailed technical report, almost instantly, without benefit of research facilities or resources." - Alan Carson

I will run a test load tonight and see what the outside exhaust looks like.

WATYF