Dryer vent cleaning log

Two records

The contractor's cleaning visit and your own in-house round — kept as two separate records, because they are two different things.

1 · The contractor’s cleaning visit

A service visit, filed with your other vendor work. Use this when a company came out and cleaned, inspected or repaired the ducts.

The contractor's visit and what they found, with their report number filed in Records. It states no cleaning frequency: that turns on how hard the laundry runs and what your insurer and AHJ require.

2 · Your own in-house round

A separate record, over your own machines. Use this for the walk your staff does between cleanings — it is not a cleaning, and it is never filed as one.

The building

The walk somebody on staff does between professional cleanings — lint, duct, airflow and the room itself. It is NOT the vendor's cleaning record, which is a separate service visit on the same page, and it discharges nothing that a cleaning would. CompliMaint states no cleaning or inspection frequency and makes no determination that any laundry is compliant.

Where the reference figures come from

This is the national consensus baseline, with the edition each figure was checked against. Whether it applies to your building — and at what frequency — depends on the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted, your occupancy, your equipment's listing, the manufacturer's instructions and your authority having jurisdiction. Confirm it with them. This tool records what you did; it makes no determination that any facility is compliant.

The dryers

One card per dryer. Your list is kept for this building, so next time you open the tool and start checking rather than typing.

Visual check
Lint screen clearAnd the housing behind it, where you can reach it.
Behind and under the machine clear of lint
Duct connection intact and secureNot crushed, not disconnected, not taped over a gap.
Outside termination clear and flapping freelyWhere you can see it. N/A if you cannot.
Airflow appears normalCompared with how this machine usually runs.
Drying time appears normalA load taking longer than it used to is the usual first sign.
No overheating, burning smell or scorching
No visible damage to machine or duct
Nothing stored against or on the machine
Laundry room itself clear and tidy

Why this page holds two records

A duct cleaning by a contractor and a walk past the machines by your own staff are both “dryer vent” work, and they are not interchangeable. The cleaning is a service visit — a company, a report number, an invoice — and it is filed with your other vendor visits so it appears in that contractor’s history. The round is your own, over your own machines, between cleanings.

They are kept in separate records with separate histories, and neither can turn into the other. That matters the day somebody asks when the ducts were last cleaned: a stack of in-house rounds is not an answer to that question, and this tool will never let it look like one.

Neither half states a frequency

How often a duct is professionally cleaned, and how often somebody clears lint, depend on how hard the laundry runs and on what your insurer and your authority having jurisdiction require. Record what happened and the next date your contractor gave you. Nothing here works one out, and nothing tells you that you are overdue.

What the in-house round looks for

The lint screen and the housing behind it, behind and under the machine, the duct connection, the outside termination where you can see it, whether the airflow and the drying time look normal, anything scorched or smelling of burning, visible damage, anything stored against the machine, and the room itself. A load taking longer than it used to is usually the first thing anybody notices.

What it connects to

Anything flagged becomes a tracked item in the corrective action tracker, and the work starts at the work order. Everything this contractor has done across your buildings is the vendor service log, built from the cleaning records above. Kitchens keeping this log usually keep the hood cleaning log too — a different duct, the same idea.

A record of cleanings and rounds that took place. CompliMaint states no cleaning or inspection frequency, issues no certification, and makes no determination that any laundry, duct or facility is compliant. Everything runs on your device.

Questions people ask

Why are there two records on this page?
Because they are two different things. A contractor's duct cleaning is a service visit with a company, a report number and an invoice, and it belongs with your other vendor visits so it shows up in that contractor's history. An in-house round is a walk your own staff does between cleanings, over your own machines. Keeping them apart is what stops a walk being mistaken for a cleaning later.
How often should dryer vents be cleaned?
This tool does not say. It depends on how hard the laundry runs — a care home doing linen all day is not a small office — and on what your insurer and your authority having jurisdiction require. Record the cleanings that happen and the next date your contractor gave you; nothing here calculates one.
What should an in-house dryer round check?
The lint screen and the housing behind it, behind and under the machine, the duct connection, the outside termination where you can see it, whether airflow and drying time look normal, any smell of burning or scorching, visible damage, whether anything is stored against the machine, and the state of the room. Longer drying time is usually the first sign anybody notices.
Does a round count as a cleaning?
No, and the two records are kept separate precisely so nobody can read it that way. A round records that somebody looked. It discharges nothing that a professional cleaning would, and this tool makes no determination about either.