60 minutes...still wet. Another 60 minutes...damp. Another 30 minutes...mostly dry. This basically describes my dryer for the past couple of weeks. So I wandered through the yellow pages and found "The Appliance Doctor" who told me the repair could cost between $50 and $150 dollars depending on the problem. This post is also part of Frugal Friday's at the blog Life as Mom.
I called my husband and he said he knew a guy who could help us, but the guy was out of town until next week. So I was back to my 60, 60, 30 routine for another week.
Is it dry yet? Okay how about now?
In the meantime, I was going through the drawer that holds all of our owner's manuals for things and saw the one for our dryer. (By the way, I highly recommend dedicating one drawer in your house to owner's manuals if you ever want to find them and refer to them again.) Anyway, I decided I would pull it out and check the Troubleshooting section. And for all you wise guys, yes it was plugged in! I'm not that blond.
Okay, moving on. I did these three things and I had heat! glorious heat! dry socks and dry underwear in 60 minutes or less! And best of all Mr. Appliance Doctor did not get to collect his $50 to $150 dollars for fixing my dryer because I can read the troubleshooting section and follow simple directions! Thank you kindergarten!
Check the Fuse Box
Maybe this is common knowledge but apparently electric dryers use 2 household fuses or breakers, so if one blows, the drum will rotate but you won't have heat. I have a hunch this was our main problem.
Clean the Lint Filter Thoroughly
Yes, I clean it between loads, but the manual said to wash it with warm soap and water and completely dry it before putting it back in. Evidently this is something you should do every so often. I also used a flexible feather duster to clean out extra lint where the lint collector slides in.
Check the Outside Exhaust Vent
Your vent outside could be crushed or clogged with lint and be restricting air movement. Our outside vent did have some build up that I was able to clean off.
I was so happy to be a proactive mommy and figure this one out on my own and save our family some money. The next time something is malfunctioning, I hope I remember to consult the owner's manual first.
What about you? Have you saved your family money with a similar experience? Please share.
2 Comments are fabulous!:
We actually went so far as to BUY a new dryer, have it not work, then figure out that there was a huge lint clog in the hose. My husband managed to get it out under the house. Thankfully we were able to return the dryer... though my husband got a hernia from moving the dryer.
Impressive! Tim has fixed ours several times, but I am not good at fixing things like he is.
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