The clothes dryer. It’s one of life’s modern conveniences and let’s face it — many of us simply wouldn’t know what to do without one. Well, just like other appliances in your home, dryers can break down quite often if you don’t follow the rules and if something goes wrong, you could be left with a pile of wet laundry (or loads of dirty laundry, which might even be worse)!
Because dryers use electricity and heat or gas and heat to quickly and effectively dry loads of wet laundry, they can pose a serious fire threat when something goes wrong. In fact, dryers are one of the leading causes of house fires in the United States. It’s important that you not only have your dryer professionally installed, but that you also call for expert dryer repairs at the first sign of a problem.
Not sure what to look out for that could signal there is a problem? We’re here to help! Some common dryer problems include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Unusually Long Time To Dry Clothes: with most dryers on the market today, a wet load of laundry should be completely dry within 1 – 2 hours, depending on the size of the load. If after roughly this amount of time, your clothes are still sopping wet, there’s a good chance your dryer isn’t working properly. If you turn the dryer on again for another cycle and your clothes still don’t come out dry, there’s definitely something wrong.
- The Drum Doesn’t Tumble: just about every dryer out there will go through a tumbling motion when it’s turned on. This helps heat and dry all of the clothes in the load evenly. If you don’t hear your clothes tumbling, or don’t see the drum of the dryer turning, it means the appliance isn’t operating correctly and it should be looked at by a professional.
- Strange Smells Are Emitted: smell burning coming from the laundry area while you’re in another room of the house? That’s never a good sign and it could indicate that your dryer is overheating, or that the exhaust vent is clogged. When too much heat is applied to the load, it could ruin your clothes or worse, start a fire.
You may also notice electrical smells coming from the dryer. This could indicate there is a problem with the wires inside the dryer, or the main outlet where the dryer is plugged in. Either scenario could lead to major problems if you don’t act fast.
- The Timer Doesn’t Advance: notice the timer hasn’t moved closer to the end of the cycle, even after it’s been running for a few minutes or hours? This could lead to overdrying (and shrinking) or ruining of your clothes in a variety of other ways. If the timer doesn’t advance during the cycle, it should be addressed right away.
- It Won’t Start Up At All: this could be caused by a number of different issues. It could mean the power is turned off or that the appliance is not plugged in. These may sound like obvious answers to the problem, but you’d be surprised at how many times this was (luckily) the only issue.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, it could mean the timer or thermostat has malfunctioned or that the terminal block or the start switch is bad. These issues can be very complex for your average homeowner, so if you don’t know how to navigate these parts, it’s best to call in an expert.
At Universe Home Services, our friendly and professional team can quickly and correctly identify the source of the problem. From there, we’ll make the necessary repairs in a timely manner so that you’re inconvenienced as little as possible. We offer money-saving options to make your service more affordable. Plus, we always stand behind the quality of our work with one-year guarantees on all service work—we want to exceed your expectations!