moving dryer to the garage

Depending on where you locate it, you could run the vent through a side wall.

The big issue is setting up a proper drain.

My neighbor moved theirs to the garage and the vent is within 2 feet of their front door. When you go to their house and the dryer is on, you get lots of hot linty air to breath. They have a collection of lint dust piled there too. I wouldn't put it near the front door unless you run a roof vent. A side vent will be a better if you can swing it.

I don't think the dryer needs a drain but your washer does. I assume you need to move your washer too otherwise it would be very inconvenient to haul your wet laundry into the garage. You should find a drain near your water heater I think. If you have a top loader washer, make sure the drain can handle the high volume of water. This is a major problem for me and the weak link in our sewer line. Roots grow in the sewer line and the first place its a problem is when we drain the washer. It basically backs up in our house- awk! I'm careful to get Roto rooter here regularly to clean out the roots. I also avoid the very large load cycle and have set up a water spill alarm on the floor in case I don't see it right away. Eventually I want to get a front loader machine which uses very little water compared to a top loader. Has anyone experienced this problem and if so, would a front loader washer be less vulnerable to back up?

Lynn,

Sounds like you're doing all the right things. Our contractor told us to roto-root and even use drain cleaners to ensure that the drain lines are as open as possible. After 40-50 years a lot of "stuff" can build up in the drain lines - regardless of roots.

Apparently the modern washers overwhelming the 1.5-2" washer drain lines is a common occurence.

Presumably the smaller front-loading (European) brand washers use less water and pump out less water than the super-sized american washers.

i moved my dryer AND washer from inside my house (in the hall) to the garage in my courtyard model eichler. i already had electrical in the garage. but i wanted a gas dryer so i had to hire a plumber to route a gas line from the nearby boiler over to the dryer hookup. i vented the dryer through the garage side wall (paneling). it was trivial.

the interesting part was doing the washer hook-up. but, you didn't ask about that. if you're interested, i can show you my set-up. i'm in sunnyvale, in the fairbrae subdivision.

Kevin, sounds like I'm doing what you did. I have a courtyard model, and I'm moving the washer and dryer to the garage. Going to run the gas line from the boiler that is about 3-4 feet away, and the sewer line runs right down the side of the garage so poking out and tapping into the sewer line for the washer drain will be pretty straigh forward. I'm concerned about running the dryer vent out into the courtyard cause I'm concerned that ill have this big lint build up in the bushes, but its not near my front door as someone else mentioned so it won't be that bad if I do it that way.

I wouldn't mind seeing how you did yours since we both have courtyards.
I'm in San Jose but if your up for it, I can take a trip to sunnyvale to take a peek

Also since I'll be putting in a drain for the washer, I'll also put in a utility sink, might do the old washer draining into the utility sink that way if there is a back up it will back up into the utility sink and not the floor, but haven't decided on that yet, well the utility sink is for sure, but not sure if I will drain the washer through that or put in a Y trap and have it go directy in the pipe

Moving the washer and dryer to the garage has advantages especially if you can add a utility sink and a shorter dryer vent. I do find however that Eichler's original design or having the washer and dryer in the house near the bedrooms to be very convenient, especially if you do several load a week. Hauling laundry baskets in and out of the garage with a door in between might wear on me after while.

agreed, it's a good idea to add a sink when moving the washer/dryer to the garage. i moved mine several years ago and haven't noticed any lint build-up outside the vent. perhaps the birds/squirrels have been recycling it. if you'd like to see my set-up, let me know. my email is kevin "at" hplwkw.hpl.hp.com.

The LG front loading washer we got recently has a 1" drain hose. Our water savings may save the planet. Our dryer vents 3' from a back door. Lint is only a problem if the lint screen is not working properly. Venting on a wall is much safer and simpler than venting on the roof. Things on the roof tend to be overlooked and forgotten. Dryer vents on roofs need to be cleaned free of lint. Most stay clean for years, and some get thick fast. A good lint screen is a necessity.

My thoughts.
(1) Moving W/D to the garage would take away considerable side space, but you gain it back in the house. Our 1973 Courtyard model has a 2.5 garage with W/D considered. Notwithstanding Lynn's comment, we put up with having to go through the garage-house door with heavy laundry baskets, around the car, to get to the W/D, often in bare feet over cold slab (I wouldn't be able to put up with noise with an interior W/D installation as we do laundry at all hours, and off schedule). Flourescent shop lighting is essential.
Our ex-neigbor disliked the setup enough that she moved the W/D setup to a garage wall facing the interior of the house, and re-walled around it so that the W/D became inside the house as part of the 4th BR!! -- interesting but drastic, and made the 4th BR more of an utility room --- but they were w/o kids.
(2) I would think having the Dryer in the garage would make the BR area cooler.
(3) By going to gas, it frees up a 30-amp circut at the panel. We were exploring mini-split AC, and needed a dedicated circuit, and an alternative to ugrading the panel was to convert the Dryer to gas and use the capacity for AC.\
(4) Water Saving washers, I understand, have mechanical problem rates several times higher than conventional washers. Both European and US brands are about equal (Magtag's Neptune, which I think is conventional but has an unique agitator, is a poster child for reliability problems of new appliance tech, just like GE's famous rotary compressors in its Energy efficient refrigerators about 10 years ago). So, if 5% of conventional washers have problems, HE washers rate would be 10-15% (a factor of 2x-3x) -- check out Consumer Reports (except for Ben in San Mateo).
Also, you have to use HE laundry detergent - - don't know about per load costs, but I'm sure Proctor & Gamble is assuming an inelastic demand curve for current consumers.

We're also planning to move Washer/Dryer into the garage ... the only problem is that we couldn't locate any nearby sewer line, yet ... does anybody have a good way of finding out where they run ??? Are there any companies (plumber??) which can help with locating sewer lines ???