In very old homes things wear out or just plain disappear. What?! Disappear?! Yes, old dryer vent steel sheet tubing in a damp crawl space or basement will rust out. This causes the warm moist dryer air to escape and spread lint all over the crawl space or basement, which just creates more problems. (Mold, mildew, bacteria growth)
Now to fix this, you need to replace the vent tubing. You should replace it using aluminum vent tubing if possible. Most current building codes will not allow vinyl tubing since it is a fire hazard. Whatever tubing you do use, make sure it meets building code standards. Now I know many will opt for the flexible aluminum tubing and stretch it as far as it goes. This isn't a good practice. You need to use the stiff aluminum tubing by sliding the sections together and taping the joints with foil tape. Foil tape is used for sealing A/C ducts and dryer vent tubing.
Once all the sections are taped you need to hang the tubing up by using pipe strapping and 1” roofing nails nailed to the floor joists. Or nailed to the wall studs and roof joists if being vented through the roof and not out an exterior wall.
The flexible aluminum tubing is used to fasten the dryer to the stiff tubing. It is highly recommended to use a recessed dryer vent box behind your dryer. This box keeps the flexible tubing from becoming kinked when the dryer is pushed back against the wall. If the flexible tubing is kinked, lint will build up and create a fire hazard behind the dryer. When connecting the flexible tubing to the stiff tubing, just slide the flexible tubing ends over the stiff tubing and fasten with 4” hose clamps.
As always, be safe. The dryer should be disconnected from it's power source and the gas turned off if it is a gas dryer. When everything is repaired and securely fastened then you may plug it back into the power source and turn on the gas (if a gas dryer).
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