If a load of towels now takes two or three cycles to come out dry, the problem is usually not the dryer. It is the duct behind it. A vent that has been slowly narrowing with lint all year will still limp through a warm, dry February — but it cannot cope with a Melbourne July, when the dryer runs daily, the air outside is cold and saturated, and every load carries far more moisture than the vent can shift.
Quick answer: If a load now needs two or three cycles to dry, the vent behind the machine is the usual culprit — not the dryer. Winter simply exposes a restriction that has been building all year, because the duct is working against cold, damp Melbourne air.
Why winter is when a blocked vent finally shows itself
A clothes dryer works by pushing hot, wet air out of the house. Everything about winter makes that job harder. The washing that used to finish on the line now goes straight into the machine, so the dryer might run five or six times a week instead of once. Each of those loads starts wetter, because clothes coming off a winter spin cycle in an unheated laundry hold more water. And the air the vent has to push into is cold, dense and already close to saturated.
The result is that a duct which was quietly 60 per cent blocked in summer — annoying, but survivable — becomes a genuine bottleneck. Moisture that should be leaving the building condenses inside the duct instead. Damp lint sticks to the walls of the duct far more readily than dry lint does, so the blockage accelerates through the coldest months rather than staying steady. That is why so many Melbourne homeowners notice the problem for the first time in July, even though it started forming in autumn.
The warning signs worth acting on
Most blocked vents announce themselves the same way. Look for:
- Longer drying times. The clearest signal. If a load that used to take one cycle now needs two, airflow has dropped.
- Clothes that come out hot but still damp. The heating element is working; the moisture simply has nowhere to go.
- A hot laundry or a hot dryer casing. Heat that should be leaving through the duct is staying in the room and in the machine.
- A burnt or musty smell during a cycle. Scorched lint smells sharp and hot. A stale, damp smell points to moisture sitting in the duct.
- Lint appearing around the door seal or on the outside of clothes. When the duct cannot take the load, lint backs up.
- Weak or no airflow at the external vent hood. Put a hand near the outlet mid-cycle — you should feel a strong, warm stream, not a trickle.
- An external flap that never opens. The hood flap should lift while the dryer runs. A flap that stays shut means almost nothing is getting through.
- Condensation or damp on the laundry walls and ceiling. Moisture that should be outside is being dumped indoors.
The last one matters more than people expect. A dryer can move a surprising volume of water out of a single load, and if that water is being released into the house instead of outside, it will find the coldest surface it can and sit there. In a Melbourne winter that is usually an external wall, a window reveal or a laundry ceiling — all places where mould gets a foothold.
Where Melbourne homes tend to block up
Not all blockages sit in the same place, and knowing the layout of your home helps you guess where the trouble is.
Long duct runs. Renovated terraces and townhouses often have the laundry pushed to the middle of the floorplan, which means a long duct with several bends to reach an external wall. Every bend is a place where lint slows down and settles.
Flexible foil or plastic ducting. The concertina ribs that make flexible duct easy to install also give lint something to catch on. Crushed or sagging sections behind the machine are extremely common, and a sag collects condensate in winter which then traps more lint.
Roof-space and under-floor runs. Ducts that travel through an unheated roof cavity or sub-floor are surrounded by cold air for the whole of winter, so warm wet exhaust condenses along their entire length.
The external hood itself. Vent hoods are a favourite nesting spot for birds and insects, and the flap can seize with paint, rust or built-up lint. It is worth checking the outlet from outside before assuming the problem is deep in the duct.
Why a blocked vent is more than an inconvenience
The obvious cost is time and electricity: every extra cycle is energy spent to do a job that one cycle should have done. But there are two other consequences worth taking seriously.
The first is fire risk. Lint is highly combustible, and a restricted duct means heat builds up around it. This is a well understood cause of laundry fires, and it is entirely preventable with routine cleaning.
The second is the wear on the appliance. A dryer that cannot exhaust properly runs longer and hotter on every load, which is hard on the heating element, the thermostat and the drum bearings. Machines that fail early have often been fighting a blocked duct for years.
What you can check yourself
A few things are safely within reach for most people:
- Clean the lint filter before every single load, not every few loads. It is the cheapest maintenance in the house.
- Pull the machine out and look at the duct behind it. If it is crushed, kinked, sagging or disconnected, that alone can explain the symptoms.
- Check the external vent hood from outside. Clear any visible lint, nesting material or garden growth, and make sure the flap moves freely.
- Run a cycle and feel the airflow at the outlet. Weak flow with a clean filter points to a blockage further along the run.
- Give the dryer breathing room. A machine jammed hard against a wall crushes the duct at the worst possible point.
When to bring in a professional
Call someone in when the duct run is long, passes through a roof space or wall cavity, or has bends you cannot reach; when you can see or smell scorched lint; or when the symptoms persist after you have cleaned the filter and cleared the outlet. Professional dryer vent cleaning uses rotating brushes and vacuum equipment that clear the full length of the run rather than just the accessible ends, and a technician can also tell you whether flexible duct should be replaced with rigid ducting to stop the problem recurring.
For most Melbourne households, an annual clean before the heavy-use months is enough. If you dry several loads a week, have a long or convoluted duct run, or share the house with a shedding pet, a check part-way through winter is worth it — the middle of the wettest, coldest stretch of the year is exactly when the vent is under the most strain.
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Frequently asked questions
How often should a dryer vent be cleaned?
Once a year suits most Melbourne households, ideally before the heavy winter months. If you run several loads a week, have a long duct run with multiple bends, or have pets that shed, a second check mid-winter is sensible.
Why does my dryer take two cycles to dry a load?
Almost always restricted airflow. The heating element still works, so clothes come out hot, but the moist air cannot escape fast enough to carry the water away. A blocked or crushed vent duct is the most common cause; a clogged lint filter is the second.
Can I just vent my dryer into the laundry instead?
It is a poor idea in winter. A dryer moves a large amount of water out of each load, and venting it indoors releases all of that moisture into the house, where it condenses on cold walls and windows and encourages mould. Ducting to the outside is always preferable.
Is a blocked dryer vent actually a fire risk?
Yes. Lint is highly combustible and a restricted duct traps heat around it. It is a well recognised cause of laundry fires and one of the more easily prevented ones — routine filter cleaning and a periodic duct clean remove the fuel.
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