Washer and Dryer repair

[mtnbkr]

The night before leaving town for Christmas with the family, our dryer stopped working.  Now that we're back in town, I started looking into the issue (FIL said I shouldn't bother and just get a new one).  I suspected a bad door switch, but by using the troubleshooting videos on this page, I determined it was a bad thermal fuse. 

I highly recommend the site.  The videos were easy to follow and the job was much simpler than I expected.  Now I'm off to find the parts...

http://www.do-it-yourself-washing-machine-and-dryer-repair-help.com/


Chris

[Ron]

If the thermal fuse is bad, make sure you check your vent pipe and the outside vent/flapper to make sure there isn't an obstruction. Otherwise you may find yourself back in the same boat.

[mtnbkr]

If the thermal fuse is bad, make sure you check your vent pipe and the outside vent/flapper to make sure there isn't an obstruction. Otherwise you may find yourself back in the same boat.

There was a crazy buildup of crud in the air passageway between the lint filter and the blower motor.  Dunno how that happened since we clean the lint filter between loads (SWMBO's dad and brother are firefighters, she's very cognizant about such things).  I cleaned that out and will check the air flow after I replace the parts.

The dryer is nearly 12 years old, this may have been age-related, but I'll be checking the operation regardless.

Chris

[Jim147]

Do you have a local parts house?

jim

[mtnbkr]

Do you have a local parts house?

jim

Yup, already called and they have the kit in stock.  Just waiting for SWMBO to get home so I can head over (watching my evil spawn at the moment).

Chris

[Fly320s]

Thanks for the video link.

My washer has a dying coupler. Sometimes, the basket won't spin on the spin cycle.  Sears tech quoted replacement parts at $300+.  I'm not sure I want to try to fix it or just replace it.

[Jim147]

The coupler is easy, I'm thinking you have a basket drive giving up. A little more work to change and requires a special spanner wrench to take out.

If you decide to do it I might still have a basket drive around here, I can't remember if I got rid of it when I cleaned out one of the buildings this summer.

jim

[Scout26]

As a point of interest our very own jim147 is a SME when it comes to appliance repair.  (Yes, he's more then just a pretty face).

In fact when I get back to home I need to look up the model info on my Maytag washer.  It seems to die after the wash cycle and just before the fill for the rinse cycle.  All I have to do is go move the knob a click to get it going again, but it's a FWP, that is simply annoying.

[K Frame]

"There was a crazy buildup of crud in the air passageway between the lint filter and the blower motor.  Dunno how that happened since we clean the lint filter between loads."

That's not nearly good enough.

Once a year I take the front off my dryer and brush and vacuum out the entire case. It's absolutely amazing just how much lint collects inside the cabinet.

It's even worse if you have pets or if you run the machine a lot.

Another thing to look at is the outside exhaust port. It's not uncommon for lint to build up on the grill and obstruct airflow.

[Boomhauer]

The filter trap really doesnt seem to catch much lint. Lots throughout the machine. I recommend a yearly cleaning of dryer and vent pipe , like Mike does.

[mtnbkr]

"There was a crazy buildup of crud in the air passageway between the lint filter and the blower motor.  Dunno how that happened since we clean the lint filter between loads."

That's not nearly good enough.

Once a year I take the front off my dryer and brush and vacuum out the entire case. It's absolutely amazing just how much lint collects inside the cabinet.

It's even worse if you have pets or if you run the machine a lot.

Another thing to look at is the outside exhaust port. It's not uncommon for lint to build up on the grill and obstruct airflow.

Apparently. :)

Well, there was no buildup anywhere else.  In fact, the spaces around the drum were fairly clean, it was just that passage between the blower and lint trap that was full of crud.

The new parts are in and the dryer works like a champ.  Air flow at the external exhaust (outside of the house) is very strong.  Dunno what it was like before, but it's certainly strong now.

$28 and about an hour of labor (much of that running back upstairs to check out another video) to fix it.

Chris

[Doggy Daddy]

I highly recommend the site.  The videos were easy to follow and the job was much simpler than I expected.  Now I'm off to find the parts...

http://www.do-it-yourself-washing-machine-and-dryer-repair-help.com/


Chris

Thanks for that link!

I now know what agitator dogs are. (Nothing at all like Reservoir Dogs.)
I now know why our agitator don't quite agitate like it used to.
I've taken apart and reassembled the agitator to check the dogs and found it just takes minutes!
I've found that Sears wants $10 for the 4 little pieces of plastic.
I've found that Amazon sells appliance parts and has these dogs for < $3 with shipping included.

It's been a magical afternoon.

[K Frame]

Sears parts prices are insane. I ordered some parts fit my moms vacuum cleaner. Sears wanted almost 60. I found Kenmore branded parts for just over half that.

Guess where I ordered the parts.

[Azrael256]

Insane indeed.  I found a dishwasher motor at a Sears outlet for ~$5 cheaper than anywhere else.  But they didn't actually have it in the POS system, only in the online system.  They actually found the motor in the warehouse and couldn't figure out how to ring it up.  It was local, too.  Like a ten minute drive.

I gave up, hung up the phone, ordered it from Joe-Bob's Appliance Shack or something and did dishes in the sink for three days.  Cost me an extra $10 (with shipping. I can do math.) and probably added a week to my life.

[brimic]

I paid for my old Maytag set about 5x over by fixing the machines myself.
I eventually did get sick of them breaking down, so I bought a heavy duty commercial washer/dryer set through a family connection at a price cheap enough to be considered disposable.

[Fly320s]

According to the estimate, I need:

- 1 sub clutch
- 1 sub basketdrive
- 1 sub coupler

$245 for parts plus $136 for labor.  This is for a Whirlpool Ultimate Care II.