Thursday, April 16, 2015

Beseiged by mechanical failures

Well, that is just jolly. 

Mrs ERJ called up from the basement, "Joe, the drier is not working."

Picture from HERE
The belt was broken, and according to Mr Internet it is because Whirlpool saved a little bit of cost by switching from an idler wheel on the tensioner to a half-moon shaped Teflon friction shoe.  That half-moon piece is slightly above the chartreuse colored bit of tape.

Incidentally, the spring steel base for the idler is not held in place with a screw.  It has three tangs that clip into slots and the belt tension holds it in place.

The belt was available at Lowe's for about $8.  The parts are installed, the drum turns but is making noises.

Fortunately I can order an idler-wheel assembly on-line.  I am getting pretty practiced at disassembling and reassembling my drier.  (That is code for, I did not put it back together again correctly the first time (or two)

1 comment:

  1. Yeah, taking a dryer apart isn't intuitive. But once you learn your way around, it ain't hard. I will add that we can learn positively anything on YouTube. I do't take anything apart without first doing a YouTube search.

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