Tjernlund LB2 No-Clog, Zero Maintenance DEDPV Dryer Duct Booster Fan with Automatic Activation

I just finished installing an LB2. In my case, the solid 4” vent went straight up an 8 foot ceiling, came out of top rack, went into an Omni-elbow, another straight pipe at a 30 degree angle for 6 feet, and then a final elbow to go out the roof. When we moved in, clothes wouldn’t dry at all. We cleaned out 3 shopping bags of lent, and then the dryer worked great. The next year, it wasn’t very dirty, so we left it for 5 years and then it didn’t dry well at all. Again we cleaned it and bought this LB2.Some Mounting Tips:Mine didn’t come with instructions, but it came with brochures. From the brochures, I was able to figure out how to attach the included mount to the actual LB2 itself. Then I realized, the mount needs to be mounted such that the bottom of the “L” was actually under the LB2. Since it would be difficult to attach the mount to a surface with the LB2 attached, I realized the mount needed to be attached to a mounting structure first, and then the LB2 attaches to the included mount.Preparation and Mounting:First, I did some electrical work in the attic so I would have a plug close to the motor. That took a few hours in my case. Second, I took out the 6 foot pipe that went to the roof. I cut a 6 inch piece of treated 4x4 I had left over from when I built my fence. I used strong wood glue and 4 inch screws to attach the 4x4 to a cross beam. I mounted the LB2 and then I used the stiffer flexible aluminum piping to attach it all together. I also got a 4 inch y from Amazon and hooked that up as a future “clean out” so I could clean the lent from the attic side in the future.Low-Voltage Details:The low-voltage cord was super long—way too long for me. I recommend using a 1-gang low-voltage bracket to attach the wall plate in the laundry room. I know the plate makes it look like a 2-gang, but there’s only screws for the 1-gang. I cut the cord way shorter with plenty of slack still. Stripped it (18 gauge solid) and the didn’t know how to hook up the wires to the plate. It’s labeled, but in my experience, G is for ground. But there’s G, R, and Grnd. And the colors were G, R, W. So I googled and found —-oh, there were instructions !!! Lol!! The white cord goes to Grnd, which was my first guess anyway.Pressure Tube:After having seen the instructions, I checked the little pressure tube. Glad I did before I plugged the LB2 in. Because the nipple had punctured through the tube. So, I pulled off the tube and snipped a bit off and reconnected it. That worked perfectly.Calibration and Success:After having found instructions, I followed them regarding the “calibration process” and it seemed to work perfectly. First “test” with the dryer after calibration worked great.We washed a load of sheets and blankets and it took the dryer 50 minutes. That’s about typical for that load when the dryer vent is clear. So, it seemed to be no big saver with that datapoint, but the LB2 turns on and off correctly.We washed towels and it took 1 hour and 42 minutes. When the vent was clear, it typically took 1 hour 50 minutes. But…the dryer actually ran correctly with the automatic setting. That’s never happened before. Normally, when we would run it with that setting, it would kick off after an hour and not be dry. So we would have to use “timed dry” for 50 more minutes.All in all, houses shouldn’t be designed so that dryer vents go up or anything. They should go straight out. Boom. Then no problems. Real world, this LB2 is helping our dryer actually work properly, will keep the vent clear by blowing the lent from the vent with little clogging, and is certified for gas dryers, so we may switch to that in the future.The install took 8-10 hours, including electrical work, spread out over 3 days. But I’m a DIYer and I’m not that smart. Fortunately, I have a little common sense. I’d buy it again and would recommend. But deck the area of the attic first if you can.

We moved into a new home; as soon as we moved, we started seeing a code on our dryer indicating that either the dryer exhaust run was too long or we had lint buildup. The run was about 30 feet total; but, effective distance was 40 feet with two 90 degree turns. We started by cleaning out the exhaust pipe; we removed about a five gallon bucket full of lint from the previous owners. Unfortunately, after removing the lint, we were still getting the code; so, we purchased both the Tjerlund fan and the lint trap.We installed both and immediately had an error message (blinking red light) indicating that there was heat buildup. That didn't make sense since our line had been cold for several days and didn't run long enough to buildup any heat before the fault came up. I called the support line on a Sunday (when they weren't open) and left a message. We didn't hear back; so, I called several days later. On my second call, I reached a very friendly technician on the line. He clearly had access to a knowledge base and went through different scenarios that might be causing my issue.After some time spent diagnosing on the phone, we identified that the issue was with one wire on the fan unit; that wire didn't have the insulation stripped back enough. A quick adjustment and everything was working as expected.We are now about two weeks into owning this successfully installed. Sometimes, when the dryer is running late at night and the house is quiet, you can hear it kicking in; but, it's generally pretty quiet. We have 6 people living in our house; so, our dryer is running a ton. Just two weeks in, we already had to clean out the newly-added inline lint trap (already was getting the code on our dryer again); so, that shows you how much lint really gets by the lint trap in the dryer. It's nice to know we can clean this simple lint trap regularly and, hopefully, not have to worry about much lint clogging our system or even having to run through this fan.Ideally, it would have been great to have the fan fully-functional from day one and not have to call support; but, the technician was very helpful. I could tell he really cared about making sure this worked. Had the diagnostics not addressed the issue, he didn't have any problem with me returning to amazon, especially within the first thirty days.My advice to folks purchasing this product:- Don't buy unless you plan to install relatively-quickly. I would not want to take a chance on owning it a while and then have to try returning it outside the 30-day window.- Make sure you look at your existing dryer exhaust line to think through how you might need to install and also review the technical installation guide. There are very-specific rules about where to install this in the line (distance to the fan with or without an added lint trap, distance from end of line, distance from 90-degree turns). You want to make sure you can install this in your home before you purchase and also think through how you might hang it in that specific location. I had to build a frame out of 2x4s and hang the fan from that to support the fan in the ideal location.- You are NOT supposed to buy this if your effective distance is less than 30 feet (total distance of the pipe + 5 feet for each 90-degree turn). Do that math before you buy or you may end up not being able to use the fan. It's one of the first questions the technician asked me.- Just buy the extra lint trap. It works and is nice to have. I'm sure this will prevent me from having to clean the exhaust line as often and will preserve the life of the fan.- Consider installing on a weekday so you can easily reach customer support in case you have an issue.- Plan your installation appropriately if you need your dryer often and especially if you install on a weekend when their support desk is closed. We run our dryer multiple times every day. When we installed this and the fan didn't work, we were SOL until it worked again. I had to remove the fan and then try to reconnect the exhaust duct again...not easy when you've adjusted the entire exhaust line to now fit an offset fan (vs. inline). You have to have extra ductwork and foil-based duct tape on hand to make all the adjustments and also be prepared to adjust everything back if there is an issue (or not have a functional dryer until it works). If you follow the advice above, I suspect the fan works for the majority of the installs; I'm just suggesting you be prepared in case it doesn't.