A dryer is not a complicated piece of machinery.  There’s only a few important parts that normally break over the years.  So far on my dryer the parts that I’ve personally replaced are the heating element, broken door switch, and the belt that spins the basket.

About seven years ago the heating element went out.  The dryer would still come on and the basket would spin but the clothes didn’t heat up.  So, for the first time in my life I decided to find a heating element and replace it.  It wasn’t too hard to find (it’s the shiny long thing on the right).  I believe the heating element was around $35 at that time and took me about thirty mintues to replace.  Now the picture below is what the backside of the dyer looks like when the access panel is removed.

Before I started working on the dryer I took a shop vac and vacuumed out the inch thick lint layer which was resting peacefully along the bottom.  It’s amazing what you can find inside a dryer.  There was money in there, jewelry, and even a pair of thongs from the dark ages…

My old room mate slammed the door on the dryer about four years ago, breaking the tiny plastic latch which holds the door shut.  The dryer would only come on if the door was kept closed.  Well it seemed to me that a door latch would work just as well, besides I had one handy.

About a month ago the belt on the dryer broke.  The dryer would still come on and would still warm up but the basket couldn’t spin.  This was the hardest repair to do because you had to take the front off the dryer.  Then the basket had to be supported while the new belt was installed.  The belt had to be carefully placed into position on the pulley and motor assembly.

Once finished this repair took about an hour and a half in all.  Now if I had bought a new dryer everytime something broke I would have spent at least $250 in the last seven years.  The belt only cost me $17 and now there’s another repair at which I’m a first class professional maintenance man.

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