A dryer that’s making lots of noise is not only annoying, but it can also indicate a significant problem that’s happening with your appliance. While most of the possible causes and issues would require the experience of an appliance repair technician to fix – getting the hang of what the problem is ahead of time will not only help you get it resolved more quickly, but it could also prevent you from facing a far more serious appliance issue down the road.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at five of the most common issues that lead to your dryer making lots of unnecessary noise. We hope to give you the tools and knowledge you need to diagnose your dryer, and if you need a little bit of professional help – you can always count on top-notch dryer repair services performed by the technicians over at Top Appliance Repair Burnaby.
Most modern dryers make use of a thin long rubber belt to rotate the drum. This is a common design choice in both gas and electric models. This belt wraps around the drum and makes use of a tension pulley and drive motor to set your dryer in motion. However, as your appliance grows older, this drive belt can actually dry out, become frayed, and even gradually start to break apart. This, in turn, causes a thumping noise pretty much every single time the drum turns.
The easiest way to potentially resolve this issue is to take a look and inspect the drive belt. You can find it by removing the front panel of your dryer. If you see that there are any signs of aging, where there is, for example, a crack or maybe a frayed bit of the actual belt – it’s probably about time to get it replaced. This is one of the easier issues to resolve; however, not every single person is going to be able to do it themselves. And in case you need a little bit of professional help, we’ll always be happy to help you out.
The drum of your dryer is actually supported by several rollers that you can find at the front and back of your appliance. While they’re generally designed to last quite a number of years – they do wear out eventually. How quickly this will happen depends entirely on how often you use your dryer.
When they get worn out, most of these rollers stop moving freely, which restricts the movement of the drum. And once they start getting stuck or have to strain in order to move, you’ll typically hear a squealing or thumping noise.
While you can definitely inspect the rollers yourself to see whether or not they’re actually getting worn out, it’s much better to call a professional and licensed appliance repair technician to figure this out. If one of these rollers or all of them are starting to get worn, the entire set should be replaced to make sure that they wear evenly. This also adds quite a bit of operational safety to your appliance and prevents it from breaking down even further, due to an odd spin-angle, or if one or two rollers just won’t budge.
The drum roller axle is one of the most important parts of the whole range of dynamics that set your dryer in motion. And unfortunately, these axles are also quite prone to wear as they’re one of the most active parts inside of your dryer. As they start to get worn out with extended use, both the axles and the rollers we just talked about start to wear down. As this happens, you will start hearing a very loud rumbling noise whenever your dryer is operating, and the drum is spinning.
To figure out whether or not the axles have worn out, you should first take out the drive belt that the drum is attached to and try to turn the drum by hand. What you’ll be looking for is to see whether the axles, as well as the rollers, are wobbling or moving evenly. You should also try and make sure that the drum is spinning freely. If even one of the axles is worn out, you’ll need to replace the entire bunch to make sure that they’ll wear evenly in the future. This helps make sure that the drum is turning smoothly, which will also prevent any annoying noises.
In practically every single dryer, whether you’re using a gas or electric variant, your appliance makes use of something called a blower wheel. This nifty little component helps move air through the heating chamber and then, in turn, through the drum and out of the exhaust vent. When the blower wheel experiences an issue or some kind of fault, you quickly start to hear a very loud thumping or even a roaring noise from your appliance. Generally, there are three very common issues that occur with this component.
The first of these issues is very easy to identify. As you use the dryer over the course of a number of years – gradually lint as well as other small objects get past the lint filter and start to get lodged in between the blower wheel. This obviously restricts its range of movement, and the whole mess starts to get more and more tangled over time if it’s not addressed immediately. The easiest way to diagnose this issue is to remove the dryer vent and get a feel for what the airflow is like. If you feel that there is a very weak airflow, it can indicate that something is wrong with the blower wheel.
The second issue that we typically see is when the plastic wheel itself wears out over time. This is absolutely natural and is not something that you can entirely prevent from happening in most cases. However, this is definitely something you should dress as quickly as possible once you figure out that this is the likely culprit.
The last issue that we typically see that has to do with the blower wheel is when it comes loose from the threaded shaft or the clamp that’s holding it in place. While this definitely can happen naturally over time, this is one of the least common issues on our list. If this is the case, the solution is generally very simple, as all you have to do is either set the wheel back into place or replace the clamp if it had broken off.
Some modern dryers still make use of a bearing that supports the drum from behind and aids its movement. These bearings come in various shapes sizes and configurations. However, you’ll typically find either a socket or shaft with a sleeve bushing. Typically the noise that a worn bearing would make is a loud and fairly obnoxious squeaking or even squealing sound.
To determine whether or not a busted bearing is the problem that is causing noise in your dryer, an appliance repair technician would first remove the dryer belt and turn the drum by hand, just like in the case of the drum axle. If the drum doesn’t turn easily or if it makes grinding noises while it’s turning, your dryer’s drum bearings are the likely culprit, and you would need to have them replaced.
Figuring out exactly what’s causing lots of obnoxious noises inside of your dryer can definitely be a very tough challenge. If you’re feeling up to the DIY spirit, or if you simply want to figure it out by yourself, you can follow the easy steps that we’ve provided above to diagnose five of the top reasons that your dryer might be making noise.
However, even once you diagnose the issue, the repairs do take a certain amount of skill level as well as experience to complete. Doing it yourself without any training can easily create more issues than there were originally, and it can also cost you far more money and time than if you were to hire a professional appliance repair technician for the job.
If you need some help figuring out why your dryer is making an excessive amount of noise and what to do to get it repaired, you’ve definitely come to the right place.
We provide affordable dryer repair services across the entirety of Burnaby – including the Metrotown, Lougheed, Burquitlam, Brentwood, and South Burnaby neighborhoods. So if you’d like to save both money and time and repairing your broken dryer, give Top Appliance Repair Burnaby a call today. You can reach us between 7 AM and 8 PM 7 days a week at 778-655-4689. Our experienced technicians will be happy to consult on what the issue might be, provide quotes, and book you in for a same-day or next-day appointment.
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Phone: 778-655-4689
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