Had a customer who made me rethink how I test dryer vents

I always used my hand to check airflow (you know, feel for the breeze), but last month a lady handed me her kid's birthday balloon and asked me to hold it near the vent. Watching it flutter and almost get sucked in showed me I was missing proper restriction testing. Has anyone else had a customer teach them a better trick?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancyn6928d agoMost Upvoted

The birthday balloon trick is actually a pretty solid low-budget manometer test. 80% of the time if I see a weak flutter or the balloon barely moves, the vent has a clog or a kink somewhere further down the line that my hand couldn't feel from the vent opening. It's a shame more customers don't casually hand us their kids' spare balloons, that's for sure.

kelly63828d ago

My cousin runs a small HVAC company and he told me that customer tips like this are actually pretty common if you pay attention. He had a guy once who used a plastic grocery bag tied to a string to check his own vents, just held it up and watched how it moved with the airflow. Said it showed him a partial blockage in a bathroom vent that a standard pressure gauge missed. Regular people come up with clever stuff because they live with their houses every day.

markh8527d ago

Yeah that's a good point @nancyn69, I feel like customers see stuff we miss because they're watching their vent all the time. That balloon trick is so simple but it really shows you things your hand just can't feel. I'm honestly gonna start carrying a spare balloon in my truck now.