Background
I want to move my electric dryer. This involves moving the exhaust vent. This question is about where I can safely terminate the vent duct on the exterior of my home.
I already understand the requirements to use 4" rigid metal ducts, and the maximum lengths of ducts, and that bends in ducts deduct from the length calculation.
Again, my question is about exterior termination of the vent.
Research
The only building codes I could find regarding dryer vent termination were the International Residential Code, which says:
- Exhaust ducts shall terminate on the outside of the building.
- Exhaust duct terminations shall be in accordance with the dryer manufacturer’s installation instructions.
- If the manufacturer’s instructions do not specify a termination location, the exhaust duct shall terminate not less than 3 feet (914 mm) in any direction from openings into buildings.
- Exhaust duct terminations shall be equipped with a backdraft damper.
- Screens shall not be installed at the duct termination.
Question
The easiest location to place the vent is right next to my home's gas meter. My questions are:
- Is it safe to have my dryer vent exhausting next to (22" away from) the gas meter.
- Would a gas leak at the meter be exacerbated by hot-moist-linty air?
- Is it legal to have my dryer vent exhausting next to the gas meter.
- What constitutes a building opening? There is a non-opening window nearby, does that count as an opening? Edit: It's not a window per se, it's made from glass bricks.
Best Answer
An opening under the building code would typically be a door or a window.
If you have a gas leak, the dryer vent nearby doesn't significantly increase the hazard of the gas leak, because the hazard of a gas leak is massive.
On the other hand, blowing hot moist air on a piece of equipment is more likely to create maintenance issues and routing a new installation is typically pretty easy, it's probably worth a little extra trouble to avoid venting directly onto the meter.