I thought I’d start something called “Minimal Monday.” ‘Cause after a weekend of soccer games, lawn mowing, and a plethora of seemingly endless projects, the chance of me getting a dad blog post out for Monday is slim to none.

So let’s keep this short. Errr….minimal.

And maybe this moniker will take off. Unless it’s already being used.

“You know, the dryer is taking really long to dry the clothes now.”

My wife announces from the room-where-all-stray-socks-reside.

I hear that garbled somewhere between the sounds of water running in the washer and the clickety-clack of pennies (or legos) clinking around in the dryer.

“Mmmmmmmkay. I’ll check it.”

Says me.

My thoughts immediately churn to the worst-case scenario. The heating element. The microprocessor-circuit-board-when-they-really-only-need-a-simple-switch-like-they-did-in-1957 control panel. i.e. big $$$.

Because they make the parts so expensive, they want you to just buy a new one. I wish I could tell you some of the company insider stuff I’ve learned in advertising. Let’s just reinforce the fact that they want you to buy a new one—contributing to this disposable society we’ve they’ve created.

Multimeter, screwgun and determination in hand, I go to the laundry room.

Okay, think rationally:

Is it hot?

Yes. Wshew.

Does it spin?

Yup. clinking coins…remember?

Uhhhh. It spins. It’s hot.

But clothes don’t dry.

Sounds like tomfoolery.

Well, you need the hot air to escape with all that moisture, so let’s check the vent.

Well, looky here. A bunch of matted lint in the varmint-screen. This was after I started cleaning it out. It was completely blocked by lint, so the there was no air flow. So clothes don't dry.

It turns out the fix was free.

Scrape the crud out of the blocked vent screen. After that the clothes dried in like 5 minutes. Serious.

And apparently something like 90% of clothes dryer drying problems trace back to poor ventilation/exhaust.

So check yer dryer hose for lint and lint blockage, and clean it out. You’ll save energy, possibly prevent a fire and have some lint to weave into a scarf on your next crafternoon.

Happy Monday.