The Dryer is Done!!!

I won't exactly call today a full day of work, but I did focus on getting the dryer put back together.  My parts came in from Amazon today (belt was $10 online, $27.95 down the road) which consisted of a dryer belt, dryer fan, and new vacuum brush which I broke while cleaning the dryer!  My dishwasher parts were delayed and are coming in tomorrow.

But before that, I adjusted my White-Rodgers thermostat.  It has been off by 8 degrees compared to my indoor-outdoor thermometer (and two others tested against it), so I changed the settings on it.  The thermostat may be bad and need replaced long-term, but for now, I figured I would do the best fix possible.  The thermostat allowed me to adjust it to a max of 4 degrees.  So it's at least better!  Thermostat reads 68, indoor thermometer reads 65.  Doable.

Ok, back to the dryer.  I watched a quick video (Thanks, YouTube!) on how to install a new dryer belt and went to pulling the drum out.  It's so easy.  Four little screws is all that hold it in place.  And as soon as I removed the drum, I knew right away that my old belt would work.  It was that Aha! moment.  I had watched a video last week telling me to find the groove for the belt.  Well, this drum DID have a groove, so that's where I placed the old belt last week.  And the belt was so loose.  Well, with the drum out, I could see factory-fresh paint in the groove and belt-worn paint on the thick part of the drum!  The belt literally just rested on the smooth part of the drum!  No groove needed.

Armed with confidence and YouTube!  (I have no idea what I'm doing.).

The confusion.  Pa was right!  Belt was good...I just had it in the wrong place.

Notice the paint wear mark to the right of the groove...

And by placing it on the thicker part of the drum, that would take up the slack that we had down by the pulleys.  Now it all made sense!  Pa was 100% right in his assessment that the belt didn't (and couldn't) stretch, but neither he nor I knew how he was right until now!  So I placed the belt on top of the groove and fed it through the pulleys.  I was pleased to have to pull on the tensioner pulley in order to get it on!  That meant it was tight!

Why I thought the belt was worn...the belt rested on itself on the top pulley.

But after moving it to the thick part of the drum (away from the groove), we are back in business!  (It's running here!)

I started up the dryer but the tub didn't spin!  Agh!  A quick check showed me that one side had fallen back into the groove.  So I pulled the belt all the way forward onto the drum from both sides and started it up.  Voila!  The dryer spun!  And the heat coils came on (that's pretty neat to see).  And hot air shot through the now-connected exhaust vent!  Woo hoo!

Hot, hot, hot!

I went ahead and replaced my dryer fan while I had the unit all apart...since it was the real reason for the noise in the first place!  I debated keeping my make-shift fix in place, but for a $7 fix, I figured I might as well do it right.  Once again, the hardest part in that install was the snap-ring!  It's a minute fix otherwise!  It probably took me 15-20 minutes trying to get that thing on without small snap-ring pliers!  And once it was on, I was disheartened to see that the middle plastic shaft was cracked.  Sigh.  But upon further and detailed inspection, all the cracks looked congruent.  Hmm.  And factory-sawed.  Hmm.  And straight.  Hmm.  So I checked my old Maytag fan, and sure enough, I could see the three factory-made "cracks" in that one too.  And thankfully, my pictures showed me that is how it was BEFORE I put it on...I just didn't know it!  Phew!



The old center.  No flat part, so it spun freely on the shaft!

The new fan center.  Notice the flat part on top to grab the shaft.  And notice the "cracks!"

All ready to go!

That snap-ring is a pain without the tool!

Oh, did my dryer not make a noise!!!  You forget what a quiet dryer sounds like (that's a funny sentence right there!)!  So I now had a perfectly working dryer for $7!  Woo hoo!  I was WAY behind on laundry, so I started doing loads immediately!  (The dryer had a pretty horrendous burning smell, though my hunch told me it was the coils burning all of the dust and lint we had kicked up.  I monitored it for the first two loads, and as expected, the smell went away.).

I painted the patch job behind the dryer (as well as in the garage and to the left of the stove), cut myself a duct vent down to size, and pushed the dryer into place.  All of the measuring and hard work paid off.  The dryer fits perfectly into the room.  I ran outside to check the exterior exhaust vent, and I had warm air that smelled so fresh coming out of the vent!  Success!

What vent hole in the wall?!  Energy savings at its finest!

The drywall paper ripped to the left of the stove when I ripped the counter out.

Not my best patch job, but it will work.

With that all wrapped up, I knew that I needed to complete the laundry room.  So I ran out to Lowe's to pick up some new bi-fold door parts (I broke one trying to install it tonight) and came back and installed the parts.  Let it be known that I hate bi-fold doors.  They are so cheap!  Hollow wood doors with very plastic parts makes for cheap and flimsy hinge-points.  I just don't care for them.  But I got everything together!

Putting the old piece in my new patched hole (I would break this piece and have to buy another!).

So for the first time since purchase over four months ago, I had both doors on my laundry room!  Not only does it make the kitchen look better (cleaner and sleeker), it opens up the room where I had been storing the closet door!  A win-win!

How my laundry room has been for a few weeks!

Now all blocked off!

So another good day.  I didn't even start this work until late afternoon.  Just small projects here and there with phone calls and supper in between.  As Dad put it to me a couple of months ago, "You will be surprised how much work you get done when you live there."  Today was one of those days.  A couple of pressing needs without a drive required to fix them.  I like it that way.

I can wear clean clothes tomorrow!  Woo hoo!