My current house has a cheap plastic louvered dryer vent sticking out the side, and it’s loaded with enough lint to prevent it from closing. So I was intrigued by the recent writeup of the Dryer Wall Vent in FHB #240 (Jan 2014), and purchased one online from dryerbox.com. The first piece they shipped was so sloppily manufactured that they readily agreed to replace it. The second piece didn’t exhibit the previous defects, but had a different one: the pipe collar was dented out of round. See picture.
When I asked dryerbox.com to replace the second piece, their response was that 1) the out-of-roundness is due to manufacturing; 2) the seams in Snaplock pipes fit perfectly into it; and 3) I can easily twist the collar back to round myself with pliers. This was their response even though the collar on the first piece was perfectly round.
Now, I’m only a homeowner, but FHB has given me inspiration and confidence to tackle all kinds of projects for the past 25 or so years that I’ve been a subscriber. But this kind of customer service doesn’t seem right to me, so I’m asking for a sanity check from you all in this forum.
Is this a kind of defect that I should expect the manufacturer to replace? Or is it normal for a manufacturer to expect a trades person in the field to “easily” fix something like this?
Thanks for any input!
Replies
callen
In the field, I'd not take the time to return that one-I'd put the pipe in it-force it to round and foil tape the joint.
Having had to return the first one and then after returning from job - I'd get on the phone, be tactful yet firm and semi calmly state that I don't have time to dispense their quality challenged product-after asking to speak to someone higher up the food chain.
If in a real bad mood-I'd call FHB advertising and mention that they are taking ad money from a company with no class.
I would say that that degee of not-roundedness is fairly typical of dryer vent fittings and the like. It's a little silly that they can't be bothered to take another 10 seconds to run it across a mandrel, but straightening it yourself is no big deal.
(For my money the best dryer vent is the plastic "mushroom" style (eg, http://www.batticdoor.com/ClothesDryerVentSeal.htm), but they're ugly as sin.)
Mushroom?
Yeah, I agree that style vent is by far the best solution out there but hard to ignore against the siding.
They CAN be painted however; I was fortunate to find a spray-on product that's a dead-nuts match for the stain I applied to my last house's cedar siding a couple of years back. Now it almost blends in.
Painting 'em'll extend their useful lifespan too if mounted where they're in full sun much. Otherwise the plastic gets really brittle really fast & will crack after a winter or two below freezing.
We've had the same one for about 30 years. Survived being removed/reinstalled when we resided and I think again once to clean out the duct. Unpainted, though admittedly on the north side of the house.