Kenmore Dryer Repair

Factual Questions
1

OK. It ain’t rocket science. You’ve got a motor, a belt, a drum, some pulleys and some very basic electronics.

My dryer still heats, and spins, and does everything, but only for a short period.

This began with some squeaky noises about a week ago that sounded like a belt slipping.

So, I thought the belt might need replacement.

As the week progressed the noise went from squeaking to more of a motor hum type noise.

So now the dryer will run for maybe 20 minutes, while humming along like a stuck pig, but when I stop and try to restart the dryer the motor will not start. It will hum like a stuck pig again, but no motor activity. Waiting for 10 or 15 minutes I can restart the dryer and get another 20 minutes or so out of it.

The belt looks fine.
I’ve vacuumed out all the nasties.

The drum is noticeably more difficult to turn by hand: perhaps twice as difficult. I’m thinking that one of the pulleys is pooched, but maybe one of you folks have experience with this exact problem. I mean the dryers are basically the same regardless of make and almost EVERYONE has one.

Help?

2

My guess would be that the motor than turns the drum is about to fail totally. It runs for awhile, and then overheats and quits

This is just a guess, but that would be what I would check

3

Could be. That wouldn’t be by first guess though, and I say this because the drum is much more difficult to turn by hand now.

4

That could be because the motor is binding up. Does it turn freely when the belt os off the motor pully?

5

Dunno, yet.

6

A site that I find helpful for appliance repair is the Samurai Appliance Repair Man’s forums: http://applianceguru.com/

On that site is a dryer repair faq: Dryer Repair FAQ | Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man

The FAQ isn’t the most readable I’ve seen, but contains a lot of information. If you need more help, check the forums and you can always ask there too.

Hope this helps.

ETA: Here’s a similar question - looks like the motor is the likely problem, as noted above: Mailbag: Electric Dryer Stops Running | Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man

7

Nothing to add here except that my husband fixed (the belt maybe?) on our 30+ year old Kenmore over 10 years ago, and that sucker is still running, in all it’s copper-toned glory. It’s got a case of the uglies, but it does a bang-up job of drying our clothes. Long live Kenmore!

8

I did a belt replacement once as well. Had to make a second trip for a tensioner - it had gone bad and snapped the belt.

Dryer is still running fine at my brother’s house.

9

I had this problem.

Turned out, the motor vents were full of lint. Cleaning them out solved the problem.

Motors have internal thermal overload protection.

10

I agree. Those Kenmores sure hold up over time. Had a Kenmore washer/dryer set that lasted over 27 years with only one or two repairs during their years of service. They were still working at the end, but we decided to upgrade as part of a major remodel.

11

The drum is hard to turn because as you turn the drum the drum is trying to turn the motor.

Run it until it stops take it apart and find out which pieces are dificult to turn. My guess would be the motor.

12

Ours was here when my husband bought the house 30 years ago. No clue how old it was at that time. I can only assume that they wanted newness in their new place, because there was nothing wrong with this one!

13

Well, you wouldn’t expect them to move the furnace, would you?

I have only bought two houses and sold one - but in every contract was a clause that the appliances conveyed. We did keep our washer and dryer last time we moved - this had to be made clear in the detailed listing and we were prepared to negotiate the point.

14

I know a lot of people who took their appliances with them. Never a furnace or A/C, but laundry and kitchen. Personally, unless my appliances are pure junk, I’d rather keep my own than take a chance on equipment I’ve no history on.

15

This is what a reasonable home warranty is for, IMHO.

16

Sigh, I hate to admit it but I still haven’t found the time to diagnose the problem. So, the dryer runs for 10 minutes at a time before cutting out, and for the last 3 weeks I’ve been running laundry into town to dry - which really licks BTW.

17

A common failure point that relates to many of the systems are the rollers that the drum sits on. If the drum doesn’t turn smoothly the motor overheats and shuts down.

18

The furnace is part of the building. It is bolted in place. The appliances can either be unplugged or disconnect the hoses. I hav bought three homes over the years and sold one. Never seen an clause about the appliances.