It seems as if our dance with our laundry room is always one step forward, eighteen steps back. And this is just another step….
So we were all excited about getting countertops in after we moved the electrical hookups and plugged everything back in. It seemed like we were totally getting our groove back….only to find out that the dryer stopped heating. It still ran fine and we thought that maybe since we moved the electrical box, it had to do with a loose wire. Jeremy cut off the power, removed the face plate and checked it out but it was fine.
That is what brought me to google.
I don’t mean to brag but I would say that I am a moderately expert googler. My skills have left me learning many useless tidbits of information (how to turn a tire inside out, how to ward off mosquitos in the Amazon, etc.) and this time, I had a challenge….how to fix the dryer because I am too cheap for a repair man. I landed on several videos that thoroughly explain and walk you through the process of fixing our exact Samsung model.
Jeremy was a little apprehensive but since the video was fairly clear, he felt a smidge more confident and ordered the new heating element. Apparently, Samsungs are notorious for blowing a heating element.
It took a lot of ‘screwdriver’ time but eventually he had the front control panel off, the lid and the back panel off. It looks like a weird cousin of R2D2.
Right after he pulled out the piece that holds the heating element, we realized…this dryer is disgusting. Which brought us to our next question….how did it get so disgusting if it was fully encased in metal?! Those dryer manufacturing plants must be the pits.
Or we must do a better job at cleaning our lint trap. Either way…this thing was way dirtier than expected.
Once we opened it all up, indeed it was the heating element and we are glad that the lint inside didn’t catch on fire or something crazy.
The new heating element looked so much better (and safer!) and after hooking it back in,
attaching all the doohickies and whatchamacallits, and screwing back the hundreds of screws (ok…maybe there was only fifty)…
We plugged the dryer back in and hit the ON button.
Nothing.
Nada.
Both Jeremy and I started laughing and after unscrewing three of the screws and looking at the power button, we realized that the very last step (clipping the power cord back into the power button) wasn’t done. DOH!
Plugged it in and BOOM! HEAT!
Not bad for a twenty dollar fix. And Jeremy even said that he is willing to take a look at the fritzy dishwasher now…. ::BRAINEXPLODES::
yes! I totally fixed my dryer for $15.00, the part was only $2, the rest was shipping! Love YouTube! Makes me feel so smart.
That is awesome!
awesome!! Our (old) washer pooped out on us last year and my husband is too cheap to call a repair man either. He googled it and found out it was a $20 latch that needed to be replace which was stopping the washing machine from running the spin cycle. I secretly wanted a new washing machine since they are old and were left with the house when we bought this short sale. But I guess $20 vs $800 is better. Oh and he also fixed our AC this summer. He YouTubed it as well. turns out it was the compositor that blew out. Another $25 fix!! The things you find on YouTube!! :o)
That’s awesome! I turned to youtube to try to fix our dishwasher to no avail. It was only 5 years old and we sent it packing. We did post it on a local yard sale site and got $40 for it (obviously disclosing that it didn’t drain and could be possibly be used for parts). We were fairly certain that a new part would fix it, but we weren’t sure enough to put $100 into it, ya know? So we bought a new one and haven’t thought twice about it! Good luck!
seriously!?!!? I have the same dryer and LITERALLY two weeks ago this happened. Of course I paid over 200 to have a repair man fix it. And if only I had seen this post first! Lol, that’s life!
Nice job. Glad I saw this, I am actually dealing with a dryer issue right now. I probably should have tried to tackle a squeaky part myself, but I deferred to Sears Repair. I would not recommend them (I’m being incredibly polite here).
I did that too! Sorta… My newish (4 years old) fancy refridgerator had issues, and after my google-search, I found out it was a common problem with my model. They sent me the part for free, and all I had to do was follow some other guys instructions that I found on google and voila – it worked again (which also involved taking apart the back of the fridge, lots of wires, screws and a little cussing) There is nothing like that sense of accomplishment when you combine diy and saving a couple hundred bucks! Congrats!
Gotta love YouTube!! I’ve fixed a few things on my car thanks to it. Next fix is my windshield washer pump.
Several times a year my husband takes the sides off our dryer and vacuums out all the lint that the lint trap misses. And he has some sort of brush with a long handle that attaches to the drill to clean out the vent in the wall. When he is all done the dry cycle is a bit shorter and the risk of fire is much lower!
I love google to fix things! The turn signal on my husband’s car went out this past winter. It took me a few minutes of googling to find a youtube video of a guy replacing the blinker in the same make & model car. It even told me what part to pick up. Yay for $15 and no labor at a repair shop! Now I get to say I work on cars! 😉
That’s awesome!!!! Congrats for saving a few hundred bucks, learning something new and gaining confidence to move onto the next scary project!
We used to have a Samsung dryer and the heating unit broke 3 times in 2 years. Thankfully we had the warranty so it didn’t cost us anything to have it fixed, but after the 3rd time, the warranty company wouldn’t fix it again and they gave us our purchase price back to buy a new dryer. I was very happy with it when it worked, too bad it’s a known issue!
We just replaced the heating element on our dryer last year, also thanks to some Google research. Amazing how easy a fix it is, the hardest part was getting behind the dryer to replace it!
Wow, I totally don’t have the balls to fix my own dryer! FYI – about the dishwasher. We just had to get our 1 yr old dishwasher fixed. We had two parts that needed to be replaced, hired it out, still didn’t work. I was not a happy camper when I had to call them back again. It turned out it needed the computer parts reset – I think he referred to it as the hard drive. Anyway. Before you spent money on new parts, you could try that. He had to unplug all the connections, let it sit unplugged for about 15 mins, then rebooted. That was all it took to then recognize the new components. Wanted to mention that in case you could do a quick reboot on your dishwasher. I’m sure you can google that too!
I’m in awe. It’s never occurred to me to try to fix these things myself. D’oh! I’ve just always replaced when my appliances die. Of course, I also buy cheaper stuff so I’m not as financially invested–and thankfully the cheaper stuff has always lasted a loooooooong time between replacements so I don’t bleed money every couple of years. 😉
But seriously, kudos to you and Jeremy for being smart enough (and brave enough) to tackle this! Supa-stars!
Hi Katie,
Glad you were able to find a cheap fix for your dryer.
I wanted to see your thoughts about the current state of blogging? I’m just freaking shocked about YHL news from this morning. Possible post?
Katie,
with YHL officially declaring their retirement- you are my number 1…keep doing what you’re doing…and please don’t leave! xxx
I’m a DIYer with appliances as well. I’ve replaced dryer sensors, elements and blowers. All of that was in the past year though so at this point, I’m starting to think I just need a new dryer!
I am positive, that even with a step by step video, I would manage to screw it up and hurt myself. I am impressed!
Yeah! You go on with your bad self!
xo – kb
I am so sad that they are moving on too but I know that for a fact that Sherry & John are gonna be kick-butt at whatever they do so I am excited to hear their new adventures 🙂 I might do a post…might not…I’m sort of in mourning right now.
xo – kb
Thanks for the headsup!
xo – kb
Please don’t leave us anytime soon. I’d have to just quit the internet forever. I can’t believe it’s come to this, but I feel like I’ve lost a real friend! At least you still get to hang out with them. I do wish them the best and know that things change and they will be super awesome at whatever they do .
Good job you guys! I have dissected my front load washer before, but haven’t (thankfully!) had to tackle the dryer! I’m impressed!! Gotta love Google and YouTube!! 😀
I need to get my husband to clean the inside of the dryer too (i’m 7 months pregnant and he’s “over protective” and won’t let me move anything even slightly heavy). Thanks for the reminder!
Quick question – do you still love the sweet seat that your originally got for Will? Has it held up? Did it fall apart before Weston ever saw it?
Thank you!
I love your wall color in the laundry room. Would you have still chosen that color if you didn’t have a window in there?
I’m not an appliance repair technician, and I don’t play one on TV, but having repairclinic . com in my neighborhood has made repairing an appliance a challenge that I’ll take on. They’re open late and I don’t have to wait for shipping (but they ship quickly from what I’ve heard). They help diagnose the problem and will accept a part for return if it wasn’t the issue. I’ve saved my 18 year old frig with a $30. (easy to install from inside the freezer) part twice now, as well as washers and dryers. I love saving some money and learning something new.
I clean the lint vent every time I do a load of wash, and my heating element did the same thing, apparently from lint. Maybe I should remove the back and vacuum the innards occasionally.
Yes! I love that dark blue and the plan is to keep the rest of the room light and bright!
xo – kb
Ah, the age of google and youtube. These are glorious times. 😉
My husband has built our entire house using google search and youtube videos. As in, built it himself, with his own hands, no work crew ever.
Everyone asks me, “Is he in construction?” Nope. “How does he know how to do it then?” Youtube.
Nope – it’s still in perfect condition! It’s actually in Weston’s room right now!
xo – kb
I clean mine too after every dry (and I vacuum out the trap at least once a week) but apparently the lint still gets in there!
xo – kb
I JUST fixed our dryer last week also! Exact same story as you….youtube is a savior!! Ours was the solenoids. I felt like a freakin pro after I was done!
Proud of you. Way to go!
I hope they share a little of their new adventures! I’m just curious to hear what kind of job they move onto after full time blogging and working from home for so long.
Wow! Way to go Katie! And on a side note, please don’t stop blogging! I am still in shock about YHL. Can’t believe it. So sad. Good for them of course, but sad for the blogosphere.
That’s awesome! Good work!!
I just have to say i’ve been reading your blog since the beginning (Along with YHL) and I love it!
I really appreciate you sharing so much with all of us. With John & Sherry stepping back Bower Power is the only blog I read daily. Please tell me you aren’t planning on stopping anytime soon!!! I’d be lost!!
Isnt Repair Clinic the most awesome thing ever? My husband’s buddy is the guy who produces and narrates all their videos! I have replaced a dryer heating element (it goes bad on all models, eventually), and a defrost element in my freezer.
Way to go Katie! Very impressed with you and your boyfriend!
I clean out my lint trap after every load- never thought I needed to do more than that. Thanks for the tips!
One reason your dryer got so gunky and burned out might be a clogged dryer vent…Should be cleaned once a year. great job fixing it!
I’m gonna miss their blog too. But definitely not planning on following in their footsteps.
xo kb
Totally impressed with your fix. Scary that there was so much lint in there. Makes me wonder about our dryer!!
Yahoo!!
We’d miss you too much, KB!