Bought a new washer+dryer. Old washer+dryer are still working fine, so I figured I will keep the old dryer and just dispose of the old top load washer (the new one is a nice front load). They're both electric, so I don't have to worry about gas plumbing.
Do I need a separate vent pipe for each dryer? Or can they just "share" a single vent pipe, via a "Y-pipe?"
Best Answer
A dryer moves a lot of air, and requires a dedicated 4" vent. For two dryers to operate at the same time, you would need a 6" vent. Just as air conditioning ducting gets smaller as it splits off, the two outgoing vents will need to join into a larger vent.
The area of a 4" vent is (πr^2 = 3.14 * 2 * 2 = ) 12.6 sq in. A 6" vent is 28.3 sq in. so it can handle the two 4" vents (you wouldn't have to double the vent size to 8"...).
Combine this with the need for an additional electric run, and your spare dryer is turning into a big expense!