Daily Home Renovation Tips

They have worked very well.

We have even written previously about the use of dryer balls to reduce the amount of time it takes to dry our clothes.

However, a few weeks ago, on Christmas Eve to be exact,  the Whirlpool Duet stopped producing heat to dry the clothes.

A few days later, Tom from North Durham Appliance came over to see what was wrong.

First, he removed the front dryer cover directly beneath the tumbler and showed me how much lint has accumulated inside.

It looked like a lot to me and I was surprised how much was there. Tom indicated that every one to two years I should unplug the unit, remove the front cover as he had and use our home vacuum to clean out the lint and part of regular maintenance. He emphasized not to forget to first unplug the dryer otherwise damage and some electrocution could occur.

Now, it took a few minutes before Tom indicated the cause of no heat being generated. I had already checked the electrical panel in the house but nothing had been tripped. As well, I had already checked to see that the vent line outside the house was clear.

The cause was a bad heating element, shown below:

He took the time to show me how no amps were registered when he tested the unit. Per Tom, the excess lint build up after 5+ years of use could have caused the heating element to stop working.

He checked to see if he had a replacement in his truck, which he did not. However, he called his office and they had one in stock.

Before leaving to obtain the replacement part, he used our central vacuum to clean inside of the dryer. Compare the picture below to the second picture above to see the difference. Remember, the dryer had been unplugged from the wall before any of this was done.

He left and returned in a few minutes with a replacement heating element for the Duet dryer. I was hoping that it would do the trick.

To continue with the repair and maintenance of our our dryer, simply select this link to Part 2.