Successful Dryer Repair

I had previously written that we had noticed a couple of problems with our clothes dryer in recent weeks.  The drum was making some squeaking and creaking as it tumbles and the clothes were not fully drying as they should.  Also, everything was coming out wrinkled so I knew that something was not right.

Yesterday morning, I completely disassembled our dryer, cleaned it out completely (it wasn't bad at all, actually, but I figured I should do this while I was inside the dryer), and replaced the rollers for the drum as well as installed a new belt.  That job was a bit of a pain in the butt but it is done.  

I think they must have used locktite on the bolts holding the drum rollers because removing them was extremely difficult and frustrating.  While I was inside the machine, I checked everything and tested the heating element.  The heating element tested as good so all I did with that is removed the little bit of lint and dust that was around the element.  

I was waiting on parts for our damaged vent hose too and those arrived today.  I had found that our vent hose was torn open and crushed so the dryer wasn't venting properly.  This is likely what caused the longer cycle times and clothes coming out of the dryer all wrinkled.  It also explained why our laundry room always got so hot and humid while doing laundry!

Those parts for the vent showed up at lunchtime today so I jumped right into fixing the vent problem.  I had already opened up the wall and floor to gain access to the vent that runs to the nearest outside wall about five feet away.  Now I just needed to cut away the torn and crushed part of the vent hose, add a coupler, install a short section of new flexible vent hose, and then install a new in-wall magnetic coupler that attaches to the dryer when you push it in place.  

This part of the job went without any problems and I had the dryer in place in short order.  Then I started a much needed load of laundry.  The dryer worked like it was brand new!  So, it was a successful repair!  The clothes were noticeably warmer in a little less than a single cycle...  they were not wrinkled...  and they were completely dry.  Before this repair, I would have needed to do an additional cycle for about 20 minutes or so to get the clothes dry but they would still be wrinkled (which drives me crazy since I refuse to wear wrinkled clothes!).  

In the photo below, you can see the new in-wall housing that magnetically connects the dryer to the vent. This works impressively well!

Just as a reminder, here is the photo I shot after I had opened up the floor yesterday morning.  You can see the crushed vent hose under the floor.  

I should also note that it appears as though we had purchased a used dryer and not a new one!  We purchased this quite a few years ago so nothing can be done about it now but this is really quite criminal to be selling an appliance as new when it is really a used one.  We purchased it at either Best Buy or Lowes.  I think it was Best Buy though.  We wanted the model of dryer that matched our newish washing machine so we purchased it online at, I think, Best Buy.

I knew it was used because there were markings inside in places where someone should mark when disassembling the dryer to make sure you reassemble it correctly.  Also, the drum was actually installed with the back of it (marked "B") on the front side.  When I reassembled the dryer, I installed it correctly.  

The good news is that this was a relatively easy job and our dryer is now working like it is brand new again!