Did I get ripped off??

I want to be in the same boat as Moot.


Literally...not with a busted dryer.

Quote from scsiguru : Should be a shut-off valve on the gas line, but then again if he has to disconnect the line for whatever reason that's another story...good luck!!

Thank you so much.....sorry I hijacked your thread

Quote from emelvee : I want to be in the same boat as Moot. Literally...not with a busted dryer.

You keep away from my Moot!

Quote from emelvee : I want to be in the same boat as Moot. Literally...not with a busted dryer.

I'm guessing it is a motorboat right?

Should've asked BE before you got it fixed.

I replaced my heating element in a Samsung dryer for $40 a few months ago, but I ain't afraid to unscrew a few things.

Quote from Moot-N-Me : I CAN NOT believe you just made this thread. I just logged in to ask a very similar question We have a Kenmore gas dryer. Well today it stopped heating. I checked the lint trap....clear. So I called Sears about 20 minutes ago. Of course the warranty is over. They want $75.00 to come out and give an estimate. Then it is parts plus labor on top of that. OR I could buy a 1 year service plan for $210.00 which would include the estimate visit, and parts and labor up to $500.00. I have no idea what to do because I just looked up dryers and I could buy the one I have for about $500.00 including install. I may even call repair places tomorrow to see if they are cheaper. Sorry I couldn't be of any help to you....but welcome to the same boat Good luck with yours.

Dryers are fairly simple to diagnose with a simple meter. Unplug it first, before you do anything with it. Then, give it a shot trouble-shooting it yourself. You can always call somebody later, but maybe you'll fix it and learn something at the same time.

How to troubleshoot a gas dryer (No Heat)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP9pmbw6PzQ

OR:

Kenmore Gas Dryer No heat trouble shoot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE...ure=fvwrel

Quote from scsiguru : My Whirlpool Cabrio electric dryer, which I purchased in September 2010, quit heating. I called a repairman a few days ago to come out and look at it. He was at my house about 45 minutes and determined that the heating element was bad. He didn't have one in stock, so had order one. He came out today to install it which took about 1 hour. The part was $96 and he charged $105 + tax to install. Was this out of line?

Quote from scsiguru : Well...I'll add Whirlpool to my list of appliances NEVER to purchase again!!!

Quote from DBC : Yeah, $100 seems fine for labor costs. My parents had a GE washer that broke twice in one year. Luckily, they purchased a 3-year warranty on it. The invoice showed that the repairmen charged ~$100 to install the parts.

With the HE washers/dryers and the the front loaders, they're all still pretty new stuff. We're not that far away from the initial models. There's still a lot to work out with them. So some are going to be better than others.

My old Whirlpool top loader washer lasted 17 years (IIRC) and four moves (one cross country) and was still working just fine but it had developed a noise that I was pretty sure was the start of the end for it. The dryer was also taking longer to dry the clothes, so probably a failing heating coil. Combining these upcoming problems/repairs with the fact we wanted to save more water and energy we decided to say goodbye to the old units and go a certain Samsung HE front load washer and dryer model.

After doing at lot of research on HE units and front loaders, I realized that even amongst the same brands, the different models have pretty big performance differences based on reviews by consumers. A lot of that is due to fixes on newer models/designs that improved them and some new features on some of the newer models that caused more/different problems. Basically the consumers are the guinea pigs right now. So knowing all this, I went (for the first time ever) with an extended three year warranty.

I loved my old warhorse Whirlpool washer and dryer but after reading the reviews on their HE models, I ruled Whirlpool and a lot of other brands out. I also ruled out the GE brand because they're having major problems with the motherboards failing at roughly two years of use.

The Samsung are not perfect but they are by far the best on the market at this time, IMHO. My main gripe with them is the spot where the water drains out on the front. It's just inside the gasket and collects hair because it's too narrow and there's a little bar in the middle of it so any hair (pet or human) collects on that little bar. I have to carefully (so as not to damage the rubber gasket) pick out the stuck hair from time to time.

Another issue is clothing can occasionally get twisted up (especially jeans or blankets) and you have to untwist the items (which just takes a few seconds) before putting them in the dryer but then I had that same problem in my old top load washer with an agitator. Don't mind that so much as the clothes come out of the washer pretty dry so the way they tumble in the washer saves on drying time.

The one other issue is you have to leave the washer door and soap tray open until they dry out completely. But that's an issue with all of the front loaders, regardless of brand or model.

Quote from Monkfish : OP - I have no idea how it works for after the fact stuff, but if you purchased the unit using a credit card you may want to call the CC company to see if their "double the mfgr warranty" policy would apply here.

Get the part elsewhere provided you know what is needed and haggle over install or use coupons from the Yellow Pages. That would be my approach.

There was a lady telling a store clerk recently how her sun visor in her newer car broke. The dealer told her it would be several hundred to replace it not including install. She called around to junkyards till she found her exact model and had them ship it to her to install herself. It cost her $35 with shipping. Smart lady.

If you didn't even attempt to do some research and fix it yourself then you didn't get ripped off. Did you even attempt to type in "Whirlpool dryer [model #] stopped heating" in to google?

My dryer still works even after being for 20 minutes with a stupid cat in it.

Fisher&Paykel FTW!!!

he has a skill that he charges for... no different than a mechanic charging $60+/hr

That was not too bad (seriously). If you don't like it, learn how to fix things yourself.

Quote from MikeBear : Dryers are fairly simple to diagnose with a simple meter. Unplug it first, before you do anything with it. Then, give it a shot trouble-shooting it yourself. You can always call somebody later, but maybe you'll fix it and learn something at the same time. How to troubleshoot a gas dryer (No Heat) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP9pmbw6PzQ OR: Kenmore Gas Dryer No heat trouble shoot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE...ure=fvwrel

Thanks Mike I will email those to DH @ work right now. He has a friend there who installs gas lines for appliances so he may be able to come over and make sure that end of it is safe before DH starts taking things apart and tests it.

Another weird issue - I put a small load in last night because it dries but takes FOREVER Well, the dryer was still running this morning and the dial had not moved from where I set it for time....WTF???

Quote from chewspam : My dryer still works even after being for 20 minutes with a stupid cat in it. Fisher&Paykel FTW!!!

Kitty time out room. I like it.