The average cost of dryer vent cleaning is $143. It can range between $103 and $184, depending on where you live and where your dryer is placed in your home.
Dryer vent cleaning costs are relatively straightforward and easy to budget into your annual home maintenance. There are only a few factors involved that impact the price.
Dryer vent cleaning costs can range from $75 to $329, depending on the location of the vent. Expect to pay more if your vent snakes up through your second floor or through the roof, which will require specialized equipment to ensure a proper cleaning.
| Vent Location | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Roof dryer vent | $150 – $250 |
| Second-floor dryer vent | $110 – $185 |
| Basement or first-floor dryer vent | $80 – $150 |
Dryer vent cleaning prices are the same regardless of whether you have slim, rigid, or semi-rigid vents. However, longer vents will take more time to clean, increasing the cost.
If your dryer is located far from an exterior wall in your home, you probably have a longer-than-average vent pipe.
The amount of bends in your vent material will impact the cost of your cleaning. This is because dryer vent systems become more difficult to clean with every 90-degree vent turn. If you have a long, winding dryer vent with multiple 90-degree turns, make sure you hire a pro to properly clean it at every point.
You should clean your dryer vent more than once a year if you use your dryer very often or have a long vent pipe. Vent cleaning costs more if you have more debris buildup. The longer you wait between cleanings, the more debris you'll have.
Too much debris can also force the outside vent cover open, and invite pests inside your ducts, adding $120 to $250 to remove nests, fur, and droppings. You actually may need to hire a pest control expert to address the pests if there’s an infestation.
You can keep pests out of a dryer vent with a secure plastic or metal guard. Some even double as a bathroom exhaust vent cover. Each guard costs $30 to $100 to install.
Many homeowners will have their dryer vents cleaned as part of a full cleaning of their HVAC systems. The cost to clean only air ducts is typically $270 to $490.
However, some HVAC techs will bundle dryer vent cleaning with HVAC cleaning for a discount or free of charge as part of a package deal. Below are estimates for jobs that are oftentimes bundled with dryer vent cleaning services:
| Dryer Vent Cleaning Services | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Dryer vent and air duct cleaning | $340 – $800 |
| Dryer vent cleaning and bird nest removal | $195 – $550 |
| Dryer vent inspection | $30 – $60 |
| New dryer vent installation or rerouting | $200 – $500 |
| Lint alert monitoring system installation | $170 – $250 |
| Disinfectant fogging | $50 – $100 |
| Vent booster fan | $150 – $400 |
| Damaged dryer vent replacement | $80 – $1,000 |
Some non-standard vent services include lint alert monitoring, disinfectant fogging, and adding a vent booster. Ask the pro you hire to clean your dryer vents if they offer any of those services because not all of them do. A lint alarm notifies you if debris is building up and causing your dryer to overheat. Fogging reduces bacteria from moisture, mold, and mildew, and a booster fan improves airflow.
During your cleaning, you may also find you have to replace a damaged vent. So, who installs new dryer vents? A local dryer repair professional can likely handle the task. Replacing a dryer vent costs between $140 and $600, on average.
When wondering how often to clean a dryer vent, once a year is a good starting point. This prevents lint buildup sufficiently for most people. However, if you are constantly doing laundry and using the dryer because of the size of your family, cleaning it a few times per year is a good idea. If you have a longer-than-average vent length, cleaning it at least a couple of times per year is smart.
You can DIY dryer vent cleaning, although in most cases it’s best to hire a local dryer vent cleaning company. To clean the vent yourself, you'll need to feel comfortable disconnecting the dryer duct from the back of the dryer.
One benefit of hiring a pro is that they show up with the tools and expertise to fully clear your vent of all debris before putting it all back together properly. A pro can also spot telltale signs of trouble before fire risks escalate.
Dryer vents can be easily damaged during cleaning if you're not familiar with how to handle them properly. If you reconnect the vent incorrectly after cleaning, hot, moist air could be piped straight into your home and create mold, mildew, and poor air quality.
However, if your home has fairly simple, shallow ductwork, and you have the proper equipment and experience, you can likely handle the task yourself. A DIY dryer vent cleaning kit costs $30 to $75, so you could potentially save between $110 and $65 if you do the work yourself. If you don't already own a vacuum with a hose attachment, add that to your DIY cost. Shop vacs that are ideal for this project cost between $80 and $250.
Home is the most important place on earth, which is why Angi has helped more than 150 million homeowners transform their houses into homes they adore. To help homeowners with their next project, Angi provides readers with the most accurate cost data and upholds strict editorial standards. We’ve surveyed over 10,000 real Angi customers about their project costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We pair this data with research from reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects.
Want to help us improve our cost data? Send us a recent project quote to costquotes@angi.com. Quotes and personal information will not be shared publicly.
You can clean a dryer vent yourself by unplugging the dryer from your wall outlet, removing your vent pipe from your dryer, removing debris from the pipe and dryer area, and looking at the exterior vent exit for any debris or blockages.
If you're unfamiliar with how vents work, call in a pro for an annual vent cleaning and inspection and for help with how to clean a dryer vent.
Look for some common warning signs regarding a potential blockage when wondering how to check a dryer vent for clogging. If you are suddenly seeing more lint left inside the dryer and in the lint trap, you may have an active blockage. Additionally, if the dryer is taking longer than usual to dry clothing, a clogged vent may be the culprit. If the dryer is turning itself off because of overheating, this is a potentially dangerous sign of a blockage that requires immediate cleaning of the vent. Clogged vents could introduce a fire hazard.
A dryer vent inspection is simply the process of checking the vent for the possibility of damage or clogs. You can do it yourself or hire a pro. Pull the dryer away from the wall and inspect the portion of the vent that’s behind the appliance for lint buildup or kinks. Check the connection of the vent to the wall for loose parts or lint that’s escaping the vent. Check the exterior exhaust vent for signs of damage or lint blockage. A pro can check the length of the vent inside the wall for you.
You cannot run a standard dryer without attaching the vent hose. However, you do have other dryer venting options to consider. If you purchase an all-in-one machine that washes and dries, which may be common in a small apartment or RV, most of these models don’t need vent hoses or vent ducts. With a traditional dryer, you could install a vent box inside the wall that catches lint, rather than a vent hose. Both of these solutions need constant maintenance to prevent unwanted lint buildup, though.
