Paint inside of electric clothes dryer?

[SQLit]

I would worry more about the paint than bare metal. I believe home base painting would have a less than satisfactory result. You can try it and let us know...

[andynewhouse]

It seems to me that the only way your clothes would be stained is if the metal rusted. It would need to be moist to rust, and well, it's the inside of a dryer. If you do want to paint it, I'd definitely use a high-temperature paint - I wouldn't want to take a chance on paint flakes tumbled into my clean clothes. If it were me, I'd leave it, and maybe wipe a rag on it once in a while to see if it could possibly stain anything, and proceed from there with high-temp paint if necessary. Or try ebay or some local appliance recycler for dryer parts - there must be a bunch of dead 16-year-old Kenmor dryers around. Good luck, Andy

[Mike O'Donnell]

We have a Sears Kenmore electric dryer, about 16 years old. The dryer is functioning fine (I did some rework on it recently, replacing the seals, rollers, etc.).

The problem is that the back wall (the "bulkhead") has lost its paint and shows bare metal in some areas. Our concern is that it may cause stains on the clothes.

The bulkhead part listed on Sears's web site is about $130, which is more than I really want to put into a 16 year old dryer. Besides, the bulkhead is not bent or otherwise damaged, and I hate replacing it if I can avoid it.

Can this back panel be painted? Would standard "Rustoleum" do the job, or would I need some kind of kind of high temperature enamel? Is there anything special I should do to prep the surface? The last thing I want is to have paint come off onto the clothes.

I did some searching, but on Google, the phrase "paint inside of electric clothes dryer", or other variations, returned either 10,000+ hits, or one or two depending on how I grouped the words. None of the results seemed to answer my questions. I did see one or two postings where someone asked a similar question, but no answers.

Any information would be appreciated.

- Mike O'Donnell

[RicodJour]

You don't have rust...yet, but this is applicable:

R

[buffalobill]

in buffalo ny but maybe your utitities vary: you just replace electric dryers with new gas dryers to save energy money. they will pay for themselves. get a new dryer with a stainless steel lighted drum and a moisture sensor to dry your clothes and you will be very happy. do not discard the electric dryer somebody will want it to heat their garage or basement.

[Cliff Hartle]

[trader4]

If you want to paint it, I would use one of the high temp paints that are available at most places that paint is sold. If it were mine, I probably wouldn't do anything to it unless it showed signs of starting to rust.

[Warren Weber]

Mike.. If you have it powder coated that will hold up. But cost may be too high. Powder coating is tough, used on motorcycle frames etc. It is sprayed on then baked. Warren

[mm]

I agree, bare metal doesn't cause stains. Don't leave clothes in the dryer after they are dry enough that you would be willing to remove them. In my case, such clothes still have a lot of water in them , and might cause the metal to rust.

Even a light coating of rust might not get on clothes. I've run my hand and sometime other things over rusty things trying to get the rust off and I often fail. Nothing comes off.. It's when the rust is thick enough that the metal is deterioating a bit that the rust comes off. Even then, Idon't know if it would stick to the clothes.

In other words, keep your eyes open but don't go looking for work.

My dryer is 26 years old, and although I don't use it much, it's never broken.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[George E. Cawthon]

Actually there is no problem in painting it. If you can take the panel off to paint it, that would be best, if not, painting in situ isn't that difficult. You need to wet sand with a 320-400 grit wet/or dry sandpaper. A metal primer is best, but probably not needed. Any Krylon spray paint would work fine. To be on the safe side, buy a fast dry spray paint for auto engines or BarBQs. Spray a couple of coats, and when completely dry run some old rags through at medium heat and again at high heat to assure yourself that the paint won't come off.