Can I vent while we sit around the campfire ?

[NanciL]

I have built two houses from the ground up and repaired just about every home appliance that exists, but lost on this last repair on our electric cloths dryer.
It had a rubbing/schritcing sound, so I Opened it up to try and trouble shoot it. It has two drum roller wheels in the rear and the cheapest drum roller glides in the front that I have ever seen. They consist of a strip of thin Teflon with a piece felt under it and for some reason which only the designer of the machine knows the left side is slightly different then the right side.
Right away it was obvious that the right side was my problem since the felt had slipped out from under the Teflon and the drum was rubbing on the support. I figured that as long as I had to replace those parts, I might as well get a new belt and rear rollers along with the left side glides.
I called the supply house and gave the make and model number of the machine and they called me back with the price of each item which came to a total of ninty eight dollars.. The two front Teflon roller glides are nothing more than a flat strip a half inch wide and about six inches long that I bend to fit when I install them and the felt is nothing more than a flat half inch strip about three inches long by an 1/8 inch thick with a peel of sticky back. The price of each one of the Teflon strips was fourteen dollars and the price of each piece of felt was $4.50 which I questioned. The counter man called the supplier and double checked and said that it was the proper price.
Needless to say I had to have them so I bit the bullit and said Ok. He called me the next morning and said the parts were in.
When I picked them up and checked to make sure I had everything I noticed the felt pads were only about an inch long and pointed that out to him. He doubled checked and said that they were the proper ones, ($4.50 for a sticky back piece of felt 1" x 1/2" x 1/8)
I got everything home and when I was installing them I found that one of the Teflon strips was shorter then the originals plus both had little notches in each side that didn't match the originals. I was able to modify them and make them fit anyway.
Then after much anguish of getting the new belt on over it's tension wheel and motor wheel and getting the whole thing back together. I end up with the same rubbing/scratching noise.
Back to the "drawing board" ! I figure the only thing left is the motor and fan wheel which is attached to the motor.
I took off the fan wheel and that seemed sloppy on its shaft so figured that might be what it was, but before running out and paying an arm and a leg for a new one I would try the motor with all the other parts and pieces not connected.
Turned it on and sure enough I still have the noise!
Looked on line and it said that if the motor has a screetching noise it is bad and cannot be fixed and a new motor at $150 is requied.
Today we are heading out to buy a new dryer at it's cost plus the cost of my $98 parts !!!

Jack L

[mgirardo]

We purchased our home new a little over 8 years ago with all new appliances. Every appliance, except the microwave has been replaced, although that has been repaired under warranty once already (main circuit board). We got the longest life out of our Washing Machine. We replaced it less than a year ago. The controller board on it died.

Technically the refrigerator still worked when we replaced it, however the ice maker would trip the breaker when it was connected so it wasn't a fully functional refrigerator.

Appliances today seem to be so cheaply made and the parts, especially the control boards, are so expensive. We treat all of our appliances as disposable now and usually stick with the middle of the pack in terms cost.

-Michael

[Cloud_Dancer]

That's why I bought a one-year-old, clean one-owner set of Whirlpool Washer & Dryer for $125. And, 10 years later they're still going strong.
Of course, for our new kitchen, it was all high-line spanking new stainless steel applicances.
However, I know how you feel. I also have paid for attending the school of hard knocks,....sorry.

[Fizz]

This is why we now buy the cheapest on the market, specially if they're on sale.
We now treat every appliance in the house as disposable.

[monkey44]

Yeah, you're right.  Pretty mush everything we buy today is built disposable.  Life long customers is the mantra today, instead of quality.  Especially anything with electronics in it.