Dundas Jafine BTD48TC Vents, 4-Inch (4-(Pack))

I bought this because it was the least expensive one which is over 2 feet long and is UL (that's Underwriter Laboratories, the electrical, gas, and heat product safety gurus) rated against fire. This dryer venr hose s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s to about 5 feet before you MEASURE AND CUT.It had been so many years since I bought one of these NEW (my last 2 came were each giveaways when I bought used dryers from people who were moving far away); well, I didn't think about at least 3 minor details which might help YOU to acheive a quicker, easier installation than I had (and quieter, if you are as loud as me when you lose a little skin).1) DON'T skip the 'measure and cut' step. I know this sounds obvious, but if you are lazy or have someone rushing you, you might be tempted to just stretch it out a little then leave the whose whole and attach the 2 ends, and push the dryer back toward the wall. Not as good an idea as you might think: even though it collapses after that first stretch it won't collapse as small as it was when you took it out of the box and cut off the zip ties that were squishing it together AMAZINGLY TIGHT. . So my dryer ended up sticking out past the closet door, into the hallway. Jack of all trades that I am (in my dreams), I said "no problem. I'll just bend it in the middle so it makes kind of a "U" shape and then continues in the original direction. I won't have to go look for my pliers or wire cutters, and the whole thing will work just fine." That didn't work, either. Even though the hose easily stretches around 90 degree (and even tighter angles) bends, the inside of the bend won't easily stay tight, so you end up with these huge loops. That's not a product defect, I know. It's a "customer who doesn't follow basic directions" type of defect! If I just left these huge loops, it might have worked for a while, but it also would have been a lot of space for lint to settle (a cleaning nightmare next time the dryer vent is too clogged to let my clothes dry), so I took it all apart, stretched it as long as I would need in order to pull out the dryer next time I need to get back there (about 3 1/2 feet, in my case), cut it with a combination of pliers (for the wire) and scissors for the layers of foil....check out those layers!...then reattached both ends to the dryer and the wall vent.2) about those attachment points...My wall vent tube had been cut by either someone very strong and very careless, or somebody who didn't know or didn't care how to use tin snips. Whichever the case, the cut was NOT straight and clean...there were 2 nice jagged edges sticking out. Probably why my old hose kept getting holes in it (no, I'm not describing a personal problem, ha ha). So instead of just trying to bend the sharp parts toward the middle of the vent like I did before (guaranteed lint grabber), I used my pliers to fold those edges in and the squeezed them flat against the inside of the tube. But I don't recommend that strategy, either because of all that I lost in the process (my temper, a little skin off my knuckles, a little blood, and most of my pride of being Mr. Fix-It). What you should do in that case is to find/buy/borrow a good pair of compound (leverage multiplying) tin snips, preferably ones where the cutting tip is tilted to one side or the other...and cut that edge straight.3) Both ends of the hose (or just one if you cut off the other end) will have a short section of foil without the wire holding it. If you are smarter than me (most of you can stop reading, now), you will figure out this was done on purpose, to make it easier to slide the hose end over your vent opening. Or, like me, you can ignore logic and just do it the hard way. You should reach inside this end of the hose a little, pull out the "unwired" foil, and stretch it apart so the first part of you hose that contacts the vent is WIDER than the vent tube. DO NOT assume that the manufacturer made a mistake leaving that unwired foil at the end, and leave it squished inside your hose end as you struggle to make it fit over the vent tube. What kind of fool would do that?!?Ok, that's it. I've said too much. Bye!

I had just moved into this wonderful house, but as much as we love it, it is a "used" home which means that there are a couple of previous owner things that you wished they had done differently. In this case, the dryer vent. I believe that it was moved at some point so that in tead of being directly in back of the dryer, it's on the side of the wall in back of the dryer. Well, the washer and dryer was not included in the purchase so after the new one was delivered, they said that they wouldn't hook up the dryer vent using the previous vent hose. Okay, no big deal, I'll go get one and do it. The old one was flexible PVC and considered a fire hazard for electric dryers anyway. Off to Lowes and $25.00 later, I have a somewhat flexible and very rigid metal vent hose, the only one that they sell. I quickly find that with the dryer outlet and the angle that I must do to get it to the vent is not going to be easy. An hour and some later, it's all attached. I'm not real happy with it and after pushing the dryer back into position and trying to see behind it, I cross my fingers and hope that it works. A month later the hose worked it's way partially off the vent, so I get on Amazon to look for an alternative, I quickly found this option and figure that this is just what I want even though it comes with those spring clamps instead of "real" hose clamps. No matter, I still have the ones from the failed hose. After this arrived, I noticed how flexible it was and how long or how compressed that it could be. It installed easily and the flexibility allowed it to be put on without the weird loop that the rigid one had to have. I ended up using the supplied spring clamps with it also. It's been over a month now with no issues at all. Very good product.

We had an older, "Rigid" duct. Basically, it was thicker, single layer foil. You bend it into a shape, and it stays. So, when we pushed our dryer in, the old duct was crushed, reducing airflow. It also tore everywhere it bent, leaving pinholes.Neither a good thing, especially when using a gas dryer.This duct is what we used for our replacement. It's 6 layers of superfine foil laminated over a steel coil. It stretches out to 8', but relaxes back to less. It's still foil, so handle it less if you can.This is the brand our appliance repairman recommends, and is pretty much "THE" UL duct.Clean your ducts as often as necessary to maintain quick drying times. If your dry times go up by 10%, then a little switch in your dryer is turning off hundreds of times for each load. It wears out, and you either replace it yourself (an hour if you don't do it for a living, or $150-200 if you pay someone else).You should use as LITTLE as possible. Get the dryer as close to the wall as you can while still being able to reach both the back of the dryer and the wall. Stretch out however much you need to go between the two, plus about 6 inches. Use wire cutters to cut the steel wire, then scissors or a knife for the foil. Work the clamps onto each end, about 3 coils in. Work the end onto the wall, having it touch the wall, and move the clamp forward. Do the same on the tiny nub hanging off of the back of your dryer. Then push your dryer back into place.We were able to use 3 of the 8 feet, so we have enough left that if it's damaged during the next duct cleaning, we'll just replace it.You cannot use more than 8' of flexible duct to connect your dryer to the in-wall duct. This is not the duct to use for in-wall or across-the house type stuff. Ducts must be short to make sure you still have airflow. Using too much causes more lint buildup, lower airflow (bad for gas dryer which gives CO2 and CO through the vent), and increases fire risk. Also, if the airflow is too low, you can burn out one of the three safety sensors in the dryer. Again, time or service call (parts are cheap if you can wait for them to be mailed). If you bypass the safety sensors, then your house burns down and you end up on Mythbusters or the Darwin Awards.