Dryer motor advice...

[Zootal]

The motor on my dryer has seized. I could take it apart, clean/grease the bearings, and maybe actually get it together and have it work - but it's 10 years old and I don't have time to mess with it. Anyone have any practical advice when it comes to replacing the motor? Actually, it takes 15 minutes to r&r the motor - what I'm really looking for is a good place to get a replacement motor, and of course any related advice.

It's made by Whirlpool, purchased ten years ago. Motor is model s58NXMKE-6844.

[Bubba]

Go to Google and type in "Whirlpool dryer motor lowest price" or discount price, etc. Bubba

[Red Green]

"Zootal" wrote in news:S7ydnUcWRsy3RhnUnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

If you want to find the cost of a new replacement over the Internet, you need the dryer model number vs the motor model number. Figure maybe $100 + whatever else is recommended if it's available. As you said, it's 10 years old.

[Zootal]

I have the number for Whirlpool parts - I figured about $100-$150. Any more and I might as well buy a new dryer. The rest of the machine is in good shape and works good. However...wouldn't break my heart to get a good gas dryer.

Anyone have any comments about gas dryers? I've never had one, but I'm thinking they have to be a bit cheaper to operate then an electric dryer.

Put it this way - how long would it take the savings to pay for the dryer, if I replaced this with a gas dryer?

[Eric in North TX]

If you got one with the moisture sensor. not long at all. I can't believe how much gas that saves. The only hitch is; occasionally a thick shirt collar might not be completely, but that is a minor thing and you can always press spin again.

[Lp1331 1p1331]

FWIW, most of the dryer motors for the last 20 years or so are pressed/epoxied together and cannot be taken apart anyway. I have never had nor used a gas dyer, so can't comment on how they work compared to electric. Personally, I wouldn't have one even if I had NG. (I have propane), but that is just my opinion. Obviously, three things are going to come into the equation when you try to figure cost to effectiveness of switching-- price of electricity, price of gas, and amount of use it gets. One person iving alone vs a family with a buch of kds is going to make a big difference. God luck anyway Larry

[EmBert]

It looks pressed/glued. No obvious way to take it apart. I could get it apart, eventually, but not sure I could get it back together.

We have two kids and do laundry every day. And electricity here is going through the roof. However, with the big stink about the LNG terminals going on around here, I'm not sure what gas prices are going to do in the futures. Maybe it's time to put a clothes line up...

[benick]

Same here in Maine..Everytime someone proposes a LNG terminal the evnvironuts and NIMBY's (Not In My Backyard) come out of the woodwork and kill it or tie it up with lawsuits till they give up..With the Obamamessiah and Dems in controll at the Federal level it will only get worse...Ditto on the clothes line....

[Joe]

Check out repairclinic.com. Fair prices, fast shipping. No appliance motors are cheap. though. My WAG is around $140. Consider shopping for a good used older Maytag gas dryer. Nearly indestructible and usually $50 or so used. Better yet, get in your pickup and drive around some of the upscale neighborhoods the evening before trash day. Those idiots put good stuff out on the curb just because it ain't the latest stainless steel finish or whatever. Don't be too proud to help yourself to good salvage...Obama's depression is likely to last as long as FDR's did.

Joe

[benick]

Check out repairclinic.com. Fair prices, fast shipping. No appliance motors are cheap. though. My WAG is around $140. Consider shopping for a good used older Maytag gas dryer. Nearly indestructible and usually $50 or so used. Better yet, get in your pickup and drive around some of the upscale neighborhoods the evening before trash day. Those idiots put good stuff out on the curb just because it ain't the latest stainless steel finish or whatever. Don't be too proud to help yourself to good salvage...Obama's depression is likely to last as long as FDR's did.

Joe

Carefull with that advice Joe...It is illegal in alot of places now....A few years ago you could stop at the dump and the working stuff was set aside free for the taking...Not anymore though....

[Mark]

A new dryer - gas or electric - will probably be more efficient than your 10 year old model. So factor in the price of the repair to the old (and the likelihood that if the motor has gone out you are probably looking at other more common repairs in the coming years, then figure in the savings of a new model, and you would probably be better off replacing rather than repairing.

I had NG for years, but with a remodel a few years ago we added a 1st floor laundry room and I switch to Electric. With the higher efficiency dryer, and the HE frontload washer, I haven't seen a major change in my electric usage.

[HeyBub]

Maybe a month if you pick up a used one on Craigslist for $50. Any number of people move and find their existing dryer won't work (no gas or no electric) in their new digs.

For example, here's some from just today in my area:

Kenmore Model 70 - $75

Maytag - $100 Washer $75, Dryer $50 GE Extra capacity gas dryer - $100 Kenmore gas dryer - $50 Kitchenaid washer and dryer - $100 Searching for just Whirlpool:

Whirlpool washer & dryer - $275

Whirlpool gas dryer - $100 Whirlpool washer & dryer, both XL capacity - $175

And many more. You get the idea.

[clare]

When it comes to driers efficiency is not much of an issue. They are all 100% efficent at making heat (on electric) and all need to eventually vent that heat - no big advances in technology to improve efficiency.

On a drier the element, motor, swith, belt and bearings are the parts that will require replacement.

Belts are about $17 - I replaced one last week at the cottage. The idler bearings are about $10 a set - I replaced 3 or 4 sets on our last drier before replacing it. (it was 30 and heavily used)

I'd put a motor in it. You might find a good used one at an appliance repair shop. I might still have one in the garage but I'm likely too far away to make it worth while - and I may have thrown it out when I finally replaced the old drier. I had a spare heat element around too

- ripped it off one that had been "curbed" years back as a spare.

[clare]

Not illegal if you ask the homeowner before you take it - ANYWHERE. In some areas "recycleables" are city property as soon as they leave the owner, but if he gives it to you before it is picked up it is not an issue.

[hallerb]

often what appears to be a siezed motor is junk stuck in the exhaust fan. i had that happen here, found a screw stuck in fan, motor wouldnt run.

removed that and all is fine for last 3 years

[John Grabowski]

*It may be cheaper to have the existing motor rebuilt. Look up electric motor repair shops in the yellow pages.

[Stormin Mormon]

Pull the motor out. Log onto

and click "shopping". In the search box, type the number you find on the old motor. See what's out there.

When I move into my trailer, 1994, the washing machine got left behind. Needed a motor. I blasted out the berrings with some solvent, can't remember what. Reoiled the motor. It locked up again, maybe ten years later, and I did the same deal.

I'd suggest a spray can of brake cleaner, to clean the berrings. Let it dry, and then oil it generously with two stroke gas mixer oil (no gasoline, please). Spin the motor by hand a couple times, and put it all back together.

It would take you ten minutes to redo the motor, or twenty minutes to order one online, and then you got to wait a week. Do what you want.

[Stormin Mormon]

I've been using an indoor clothes line since 1994, and I'm perfectly normal.

[clare]

You ARE?????

[Stormin Mormon]

Thank you for responding to my invitation. Very well done!