I have a less than year old maytag mgd8630hw0 gas dryer. The dryer is on the second floor and vents through the roof.
About 3 months ago the dryer started making a loud banging noise so we call the repair company. The guy came out, took everything apart and then cleaned out the lint stuck in the blower wheel with a set of pliers (might have the wrong part name - I am talking about the area under the lint screen and before the rea exhaust). He said if I used a lint brush and regularly vacuumed I should be able to keep it under control (it would be great to install a automated suction blower in the piping, but that is a big undertaking since I don't have easy electrical access in the attic currently).
In any event, last week the dryer started really pounding (it was also a large load), afterwards I did everything I could to try to clean the dryer, I even got behind it and tried vacuuming out from the back...
The problem is that it's very hard to actually get into the area where all the lint is stuck. It's really in there, I tried both vacuuming and blowing. I am hesitant to try to take everything apart myself to manually get in their with pliers, it also seems crazy to have to do every 2-3 months in order to keep this area free of excess lint leading to noise and problems.
I've run the dryer since, and it makes less noise, but I know there is still a lot of lint stuck in there because I have one of those endoscope cameras and I was able to snake in to take photos (below).
I saw in this post that the OP removed his outlet grill and was able to get in there a bit better. When I tried this, I got all the screws out but it still felt like something was wedged and I was worried I might pull to hard and snap the plastic.
tl;dr is there any secret way or special tool that I can use to get into this area? Or it it normal to have some build up of lint in this area - if so how much is acceptable?
I've tried a flexible grabber, brushes, vacuums, blowing, etc. I either can't reach it or can't maneuver it enough to really get much of anything for the amount of effort and time I put in. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to access from the back because there is a small opening and a turn at the end reaching in from the back.
Where I am trying to clean/access:
Photos of the lint trapped inside:
As you can see, it looks like these fins have a lot of lint packed into sheets so I don't think any amount of suction or blowing is going to help unless I could really find a way to get in there or seal it off.
