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[giddy up]

I have a Whirlpool dryer with a lower access panel in front (one reason I bought it).   On my dryer the "squirrel cage" fan is also located in the lower front of the dryer.  I can easily access it to vacuum it out and the adjacent floor area of the dryer which houses the heating coils and motor.  I do this about every 6-8 months.   Normally there is very little to clean out at that interval but I feel better to do it regardless just in case.   But I also bought a gizmo from Amazon that is  a series of bendable extension rods that I hook together.  There is a stiff round brush on the very end piece.   I hook the series of rods to my battery drill/driver, and enter the exhaust piping from the outside (it sits about 9 feet above ground).   I turn the drill on slowly then speed it up once inside and scour out any additional lint that may be caught on the inside of the exhaust pipe which is about 9 -10 feet in length from the back of the dryer to where it exits the side wall above.     It resembles a roto rooter operation.  Doing all of this on the reg. will keep things pretty clean for the life of your machine and it doesn't take that long once you get the hang of it, probably under an hour.   I really like the lower front access panel though, not sure I would buy a dryer without one because that could mean needing to pull the machine out from the wall, I imagine, to clean from behind and it may be much more complicated just getting inside the dryer to the fan parts.