Dryer out of commission

So sometime on Saturday the dryer decided to die.  Obviously this was not something I was looking forward to.So it isn't exactly dead, but it started making a horribly loud banging sound. Afterwards it started to smell, like horrible.

No Worky

Anyway I turned it off and checked everything I can check including the lint pipe thing that goes outside.  I cleaned all that out but it made no difference. Luckily my wife remembered that we have a home warranty through American Home Shield.  So I logged on and checked and determined that dryers are covered by the warranty.

American Home Shield

So we setup an appointment and the earliest they could come out was today between 8 and noon.  It's 9:45 as I write this so as you might imagine they aren't here yet.  The dryer is a Kenmore so they set up the service through Sears. I got an auto call yesterday at work to confirm the appointment today.  Hopefully they'll be here soon.

In the meantime since Saturday we've used the tried and true method of hanging our clothes outside, because going to a laundromat can get pricey and the washer still works so this seemed like a good idea.

This morning's laundry

It does take a few hours and usually we can only get two loads of laundry done in a day, but it mostly works.  I have learned if the laundry is hung too late in the day it just doesn't get dry.  Added to the fact that it is actually getting colder for a change that isn't exactly helping the laundry dry.

Weather is getting colder, a lot colder

I'll be updating this post after they get here and provide their initial diagnosis and/or fix it.  I'm not expecting anything good though and have already been searching the appliance stores for new dryers in the sub $500 range because at this point I just want a working dryer.

-- Update 11:15 AM --

Around 10:15 the Sears repair showed up.  They went straight to work and 45 minutes later it seems to be working just fine again.  They literally took the whole machine apart and checked everything.  I was actually quite impressed.  In the end the part that goes from the lint trap back to the back where it leaves the machine was apparently FULL of line and other debris. He cleaned everything out.  Once he got it back together he ran the machine, empty, for over 10 minutes. Well I guess it was ten minutes total, but he stopped it a few times to check stuff.  He also said that everything was in good working condition.  I have no reason to doubt them.

So I just started a new load of laundry and will be drying them in an hour or so.  I'm just going to leave those white clothes outside to air dry.  I'll post an additional update once I get that in there and let you know if it actually works when it is full of wet towels.


-- Update 2 --

I wasn't paying attention to the time but sometime before 1:00 PM I started the dryer and sometime after 4:00 PM I got home and in between then the clothes dried and the dryer works again.  That's it really. I have a second load of clothes in the dryer already and a 3rd load in the washer which will HOPEFULLY catch us back up again.  Anyway that's all for laundry.