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Very nice older guy came. I watched him take the dryer apart to get at the drum. The belt had, in fact, broken. How to do this:
1. Pull out the vent/lint screen and unscrew the two screws on each side of it. Tilt back the control panel (I think this is when he did that) and pull off the top of the dryer by pulling it towards you. There is a catch under the front corners of the top. The one on the left was hard to undo, he had to stick a chisel or something in there and pry at it a little.
2. After the top is off, lift off the front panel of the dryer after unscrewing one screw that is on each side to secure it to the sides of the dryer.
3. You can then pull the drum right out.
4. Under the drum on the floor of the dryer is a rectangular flat piece, toward the back and to the right of center, called the tensioner. The excess part of the belt, after you get it around the drum, hooks onto that somehow.
He left us the old belt so we can use it to pick out the right replacement belt if we decide to do this ourselves in the future. But, it was tricky for him (he needed a headlamp to see what he was doing, and it was a very small space) to get the tensioner set up right, because it can move out of place.
So maybe we don't want to do this ourselves! But we at least would be able to accurately diagnose the problem.
He said the dryer's in pretty good shape, despite its age.
On Wednesday when I was bemoaning the cost of repairs and weighing them against the cost of a new dryer, Alison mentioned how she'd been doing the same thing in regards to a 27 year old (??) washing machine that needed fixing. The repairman said the repair was well worth the money, because her machine was much better made than today's machines. I'd like to think that the same could be said of our old dryer, but don't know if it's true.
1. Pull out the vent/lint screen and unscrew the two screws on each side of it. Tilt back the control panel (I think this is when he did that) and pull off the top of the dryer by pulling it towards you. There is a catch under the front corners of the top. The one on the left was hard to undo, he had to stick a chisel or something in there and pry at it a little.
2. After the top is off, lift off the front panel of the dryer after unscrewing one screw that is on each side to secure it to the sides of the dryer.
3. You can then pull the drum right out.
4. Under the drum on the floor of the dryer is a rectangular flat piece, toward the back and to the right of center, called the tensioner. The excess part of the belt, after you get it around the drum, hooks onto that somehow.
He left us the old belt so we can use it to pick out the right replacement belt if we decide to do this ourselves in the future. But, it was tricky for him (he needed a headlamp to see what he was doing, and it was a very small space) to get the tensioner set up right, because it can move out of place.
So maybe we don't want to do this ourselves! But we at least would be able to accurately diagnose the problem.
He said the dryer's in pretty good shape, despite its age.
On Wednesday when I was bemoaning the cost of repairs and weighing them against the cost of a new dryer, Alison mentioned how she'd been doing the same thing in regards to a 27 year old (??) washing machine that needed fixing. The repairman said the repair was well worth the money, because her machine was much better made than today's machines. I'd like to think that the same could be said of our old dryer, but don't know if it's true.
