When I moved into my current HDB apartment, I bought a pair of Bosch electrical appliances – a washer and a dryer.

Although I am satisfied with the quality of the appliances, the accessories leaves a lot to be desired, and this is specifically targeting the exhaust air hose for the Bosch tumble dryer.

Hot and moist air is expelled from the dryer during use, and this air is outside the service yard via the dryer vent hose.

The exhaust air hose is a critical part of the dryer and it would be impossible to use the dryer without a functioning hose.

I’m generally very careful with the hose because it is made of a cheap, plastic material.

Constant exposure to heat, moisture and the sun eventually rendered the hose fragile and the exterior plastic material practically disintegrated, causing the inner wiring to expand outsides and worsen the tearing with each use.

In my case, I’m actually considered extremely lucky. I managed to extend the lifespan of the hose by strengthening it using duct tape.

The reason for trying so hard is because of the obscene cost of buying an official replacement at $81 a piece. I’ll get to the 1-star review later haha.

Alas, it finally reached a point that nothing can be done anymore.

A quick check on the official website revealed twenty 1-star reviews, which is ALL the reviews on that product page! I have copied and pasted some of them below –

• I am on my third at 71 bucks a pop it is pure banditry. Make a pipe that works where you sell your products.
• The hose is in very bad shape, disintegrated within a few months of use. My old Ariston dryer lasted more than 10 years and the hose was still good. The new dryer is in the same spot as the old, so the advice to place the hose away from heat is not right. The dryer itself blows out heat.
• I’m on my third purchase. The hose is really made badly. It is not cheap to replace. I see there are many customers with the same review. Perhaps Bosch’s R&D would like to take our comments seriously and review their product design.
• Dryer works well but exhaust hose disintegrated after one year. Managed to salvage it for another 6 months by wrapping it in aluminium foil.
• Hi, am from Singapore. The Sun’s our washing machine best friend everyday. Could you make 1 that doesn’t disintegrate in less than a year? We would be open to paying more if it understandly cost more to manufacture. Honestly, changing to another brand is a possible option. But we like you to make this change. From your customer for a long time.

Practically all reviews blasted Bosch for the poor quality of the dryer exhaust hose.

Being unwilling to buy from the official store – let’s be honest, $81 for a plastic tube is kinda ridiculous – I started looking around for alternatives.

I tried to ask around at the smaller hardware stores near where I live, but they don’t seem to sell these.

I eventually found one alternative on Amazon : iPower 4-inch 8-feet Non-Insulated Flex Air Aluminum Foil Ducting Dryer Vent Hose for $11 which includes two metallic clamps for securing the hose to the dryer, although cable ties have been known to work as well. (Looks like the price has gone up compared to when I bought it, but compared to $81 that’s still 4 of it with change to spare)

At 4-inch diameter, it would be a compatible option for the dryer if everything goes well.

The delivery finally reached me in about ten days, and there was just a tiny little issue.

Although the measurement was correct at 4-inch diameter for the tumble dryer air exhaust hose, it was just a little too small for the first metal ring to fit over the dryer’s opening – although the aluminum foil is a perfect fit for it. I had used one of the free metallic clamp to secure it to the dryer.

By the way, my dryer is a Bosch Maxx 6 model but it would be safe to assume they have the same specifications (4-inch diameter air outlet) for the air exhaust hose. Measure if you’re unsure.

Upon securing the metallic clamp that connects the dryer with the exhaust hose, I tried out the dryer and it worked perfectly.

I think we are extremely lucky to have access to cheap online products. A few clicks and a little homework resulted in a 86% savings. Needless to say, I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

If you’re still reading this, I suppose you might be having some form of dryer exhaust/vent hose issues as well, perhaps with Bosch or some other brands. I hope that this blog post has been helpful to you.