Cleaning frequency is just accumulation rate divided by duct capacity, so the honest answer depends on how much lint your household makes and how much duct it travels through. Find your row.
The frequency table, by household
1-2 people, short straight duct: every 12-18 months. Low volume, easy path
Family of 3-5: annually, the standard case, laundry most days, standard duct
Big family, daily multi-loads: every 6-9 months. Lint output scales with laundry, linearly and mercilessly
Pet household: subtract a tier. Fur rides fabric into the screen’s blind spots and mats the duct faster than lint alone
Long run, multiple elbows, or roof termination: subtract a tier. Every bend is a lint trap; vertical roof runs collect at the flap and the turns
New-to-you house: clean immediately, then start your clock. You’re inheriting an unknown, and “the sellers surely did it” is not a maintenance record
Symptoms outrank schedules
Any restriction signal, second-cycle drying, hot machine, weak exterior flap, moves the date to “now” regardless of the calendar. The full symptom list is your override switch; the schedule is only for when the machine seems fine.
The pairing trick: your dryer vent and your chimney want the same annual professional attention, and the same skill set services both. We bundle them into one visit constantly,
chimney inspection +
vent cleaning, one trip charge, and on
a maintenance plan the reminder is our job, not yours. September is the natural slot for both.
What “cleaned” should mean
The whole run, machine connection to exterior termination, brushed and vacuumed, not a shop-vac at both ends. Airflow checked after, flex-hose inspected (ribbed foil hoses are lint magnets and heat hazards; we’ll flag one that should be rigid metal), and the termination flap working freely. Book yours, and ask us to eyeball the hose while we’re there.
