Hi,

My Whirlpool "Thin Twin" compact (stacking) dryer has started to make a very bad mechanical noise.

I've discovered that the noise is only present when there is heat on. For example, the first couple of minutes during a drying cycle does not have any noise, but after it has heated up, the noise gets increasingly loud (and unbearable!). Also, if I run the dryer on "air fluff", i.e., no heat, the noise never starts - no matter how long it is run.

It seems to me that the heat is causing some part (which must be in the line of heat) to distort once heated.

Any ideas of what the problem is? Thanks!!!

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the reply.

I've actually already taken the cover off. I read a whole bunch of old threads about dryer noise and they always seem to be solved by buying the "kit" that contains the belt, drum rollers, and pulley. I thought that this would be my solution.

But upon taking the cover off and running the dryer, I discovered that the noise does NOT seem to be coming from the drum rollers.

Instead, the noise seems to be coming from the fan area. Because of this, my thinking is that the noise is either the pulley (behind the fan), the fan, or the motor itself.

Since the noise is only present when the heat is on, am I correct in thinking that the noise must be caused by either the pulley or fan since these are the only two pieces in this area that could possibly be affected by heat? If so, any tips on how to determine which of these 2 parts is the actual culprit?

Also, even if the noise is not being caused by any of the parts in the "kit" I mentioned above, is it a good idea to replace them anyway, or just a waste of money? The dryer is about 6 years old.

Thanks!

Today I installed the maintenance kit as well as a new blower. The noise is now gone :)

I think the noise was probably coming from the blower (fan). With that said, I don't think it was the new blower that fixed it, but rather just uninstalling and installing the blower again. When I removed the blower it didn't come straight out as it should - it wasn't totally aligned with the opening in the metal shroud. I think that maybe the blower was just barely rubbing on the shroud when it heated up. I'm not sure how the shroud and blower got out of alignment with each other but I'm pretty sure this is what happened. I kind of pushed and pulled on the shroud to get it to line up better with the blower wheel/fan and now the noise is gone, so maybe that did the trick.

Of course, it could have been on of the parts in the maintenance kit that fixed the problem to. I guess I'll never know :)