Step 5 - Fishing for Lint

Time to complete this step: Well that depends on how good a fisherman you are, doesn't it? Probably about 30 minutes.

Using your lint fishing tools, reach down into the air chamber and try to snag whatever lint build-up you can. Hopefully you've just run a load of clothes through the dryer so the lint build-up will be wet and clingy and stick to your tools better.

This is where your fishing skills will come into play. It took me a few minutes before I managed to hook onto a big chunk of wet lint. I had good luck by alternating between the clothes hanger and the ZIP-IT. I used the hangar to losen-up the lint, and then stuck the ZIP-IT down and gave it a twirl to grab onto the loosened-up hunks of lint.

I've managed to snag a big clump of wet lint in the picture above. Keep switching between the hanger and the ZIP-IT according to whichever tool yields the best results. You'll be able to "feel" the end of both tools when they encounter lint (soft and squishy) and when they've hit the wall or bottom of the clean chamber (sharp "clank" sound of the tool touching the plastic chamber).

After you think you've pulled up as much lint are you'll find, keep fishing a little more! As I was cleaning mine, I almost decided to give up after about 5 or 10 minutes of thinking I was done. But then I snagged yet another huge clump of lint with the clothes hanger! Just when you think you might be done, there's more!

Here's my total bounty, one giant handful of wet lint:

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