In April Barbara was alarmed when the dryer in our laundry room started giving out a low-pitched rattling sound when she turned it on. Springing into action, I promptly accomplished one of my spring chores, reinstalling our clothes line tree in the post hole surrounded by concrete that I had put in place in our backyard a number of years ago. Then I took the damp clothes out of the dryer and hung them up. Mission accomplished (for that load of laundry).

Next, off to the internet to learn about dryers. I soon found that the chief cause of noise from a dryer was a problem with the rollers, small wheels that support the dryer's drum as it rotates. Fortunately the internet informed me that this was a problem that a repairman could fix for between 50 and 100 dollars. Unfortunately the estimates via email that I got from repair people in the Madison area were much higher, ranging up to $400 for both doing the repair and cleaning the dryer out. Fortunately, I found a 12 min. video on YouTube for our model of dryer that showed how I could do the repair myself, with screw by screw instructions. So I began that project.

Step one was to remove the top of the dryer, allowing me to look down on the drum as shown at right. With the top off I ran the dryer briefly to confirm that the sound seemed to be coming from the drum. With the exhaust piping disconnected I could see bits of lint being shot out of the back, so I concluded that the blower and motor were operating as they should. Next I unplugged the dryer and proceeded to remove the front, disconnecting a bunch of wires. Each wire had a unique connector, so there was no danger of making a wrong connection later. Then I lifted out the drum, and found a lot of lint to clean out of the dryer's innards. The photo at left shows how much had accumulated in the barrel of the blower. 

I thought that I might find a damaged roller wheel that I would have to replace, but all 4 looked ok. I cleared out hair that had gotten twisted around the wheel axles. One wheel was worse than the others, so I removed the plastic tri-ring clip that was holding it in place and took the wheel off to get at all the hair on that axel. After replacing the wheel I lubricated all the wheels with graphite powder and put the dryer back together, following the YouTube video from finish to start.

When I plugged the dryer in and tested it, the rattle was gone! The dryer has been working since then, used by Mischa who was visiting as well as Barbara. Here's hoping it will continue to serve us, for another decade or more or for as long as we remain here in our house. If not, I know now that I can get new roller wheels at the nearby Home Depot and install them myself if necessary.