Patent ID: 9689100
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: D06F

Claim:
1. A method of operating a clothes washer having a tub, a drum, a dispenser fluidly coupled to an exterior of the clothes washer, a dispenser conduit fluidly coupling the tub to the exterior through the dispenser, and a vent tube fluidly coupling the tub to ambient air exterior of the clothes washer, the method comprising: executing a clothes washing cycle of operation; and actuating, after completion of the clothes washing cycle of operation, a fan fluidly coupled to the dispenser conduit and the vent tube such that ambient air is drawn, for a predetermined time, from the exterior of the clothes washer, passed along a ventilation flow path defined through the dispenser, the dispenser conduit, the tub, the vent tube, and returned to the exterior for the predetermined time; wherein passing the air comprises passing the air in a first predetermined direction, being drawn through the dispenser, then passed through the dispenser conduit, then through the tub, and then exhausted through the vent tube, or wherein passing the air comprises passing the air in a second predetermined direction of drawing air through the vent tube, then passing the air through the tub, then through the dispenser conduit, and then exhausting through the dispenser.