This article is about faults that can cause a noisy tumble dryer. However, due to the way dryers are designed, many tumble dryer noises can be difficult to fix because you need to strip the entire dryer down to get to some parts. This article gives general guidance without specific stripping down instructions.
Tumble dryers, particularly condenser and heat pump dryers can be complicated to strip down and get back together!
Metallic scraping noise
Metallic scraping noises should not be ignored. This sound usually means the metal drum is scraping on something as it revolves. If ignored, serious wear can occur.
As you can imagine, something metal constantly catching on something else – even something else metal – will inevitably result in wear of one or both of the parts involved. I’ve seen many simple faults ignored until only a very expensive repair will fix it.
Other metallic scraping noises could be caused by the plastic bearings the drum rests and rotates on wearing down so much that the lip of the drum at the front can scrape on metal.
Make sure the dryer is level. If not level the cabinet can slightly twist causing drums to catch on nearby parts. Hotpoint and Indesit tumble dryers used to be terrible for scraping noises, and they brought out modifications to try and address the problem.
It’s hopefully solved by now, but cheap dryers, or even expensive ones not well made, can have flimsy casings which twist easily and have too little clearance between the revolving drum and the back panel.
Squeaking noises
These can be caused by tension pulleys which usually tension the drive belt and revolve all the time the drum is turning. They are small wheel-like plastic parts that are held against the drive belt with strong springs, and run on a small metal shaft. They commonly dry out or wear.
The proper cure for this is to replace the pulleys and the shaft they run on, or at least strip them, clean them and grease them with high melting point grease if they aren’t too worn. Unfortunately though these tension (or jockey) pulleys are not usually accessible without stripping the dryer down though some dryers allow you to remove a side panel if you can work out how to take it off.
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Squeaking bearing
On some tumble dryers are dry or worn bearing can cause squeaking noise. This is particularly common on some Indesit or Hotpoint tumble dryers. Check out the comments below where 2 people have contributed their experience on how they dealt with their squeaking tumble dryers.
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Rumbling noises
Deep rumbling noises can also be caused by the same belt tension pulleys from the last section. Depending on their design they can develop squeaks or a rumble. So can worn drum bearings, which are usually just shiny plastic parts the drum rests on at the front and a single brass bearing at the rear centre of the drum.
Noisy motor
The motor can of course become noisy, though it is pretty rare because they revolve so slowly that they don’t tend to wear much. If the belt is removed and any tension pulley brackets moved out of the way a motor can be run on its own to see if it’s creating the noise.
Warning: refitting a tumble dryer drive belt can be extremely difficult. They are very strongly tensioned and special tools are often needed to be able to force one back on, especially with a brand new belt.
Condenser dryer noises
Condenser tumble dryers have more parts than vented dryers and one which can cause noises is the small pump which pumps condensed water into the condenser drawer. If this pump becomes noisy it should be a different noise to the noise of the drum revolving and should continue even when the drum pauses when reversing.
The condenser pump may run continuously during the cycle, or it may be designed to kick in and out intermittently during the cycle. If it develops excessive noise it may need replacing. Access may be available from the rear panel but some may need side panels and frontages removing.
Mel says
I’ve just replaced the foam seals, bush, shaft and four plastic pads that pass for bearings on my Hotpoint tumble dryer (about £10 for a kit of parts).
I hadn’t noticed any problems or unusual noises with it until I put in the last wash, when It started making a slight clunking sound on each rotation, as if someone had left something heavy in a pocket of one of the items being dried.
The drum shaft had worn its way through the bottom of the bush, and had a groove sawn almost all the way through it by the back of the case. It was down to about 1mm in diameter, and broke off while I was dismantling the machine.
Having fixed it, I think I’ll get into the habit of taking of checking the rear bearing and clearing all the dust out of the case every couple of years, if it keeps going that long.
Simon Lane says
Thanks for this – I had a squeaking Indesit tumble dryer and it was caused by the drum support rod wearing the bearing down at the back. I documented my fix for my particular Indesit model here:-
http://randomrepair.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/indesit-idv65uk-tumble-dryer-squeaking.html
Iwan says
have just repaired my Indesit tumble dryer, Model IS60V. After a while of operating, the squeaking became intolerable. After investigating the noise, it was apparent that the rear bush of the drum had worn to a point, where it was rotating on the rear cover. Simple repair to carry out.
1: Remove the top cover to reveal the drum.
2: Remove rear plastic cover to reveal the spindle at the rear of drum.
3: Remove locking wire by using a point nose pliers, then gently remove spindle castle washer.
4: Using an alan key, undo screw on left hand side of spindle.
5: At the same time as lifting the drum from the top, slide out the bush from spindle.
6: Once removed, assess the damage and you will see an elongated hole where the spindle sits and has worn through.
7: Clean all areas where there is filings. Once cleaned, using high melting point grease (copperslip), grease the internal area of the bush and the spindle.
8: Once cleaned, rotate bush 180 Degrees and refit bush to spindle By lifting drum and sliding bush onto spindle, ensuring that the undamaged area is at the bottom, 6o’clock position.
9: Using a pilot drill bit, drill a small hole where the securing screw would go through the bush, this would be now, on the right hand side.
10: Using a self tapping screw, fix bush securely. The alan key screw can be refitted to original screw hole for safe keepings for future use, if bush needs replacing completely.
11: Once fitted, replace all items removed, in reverse order of removing.
I hope this helps, if you need further advise, please contact a competent person to carry out this task, if you are not sure. Happy drying.
Ben says
Indesit tumble dryer noise problems – check out the link in the posting above. Great advise – save me loads of time, hassle and money. Many thanks!!
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Thanks for your contributions Simon and Iwan. I’ve added a note in my article pointing to your comments.
Bill says
Simon Lane, your picture tutorial on your link was perfect. When I examined my Indesit is60v I found exactly what was shown in your photo’s. I then read the comments including Iwan’s post and I reversed the teardrop bearing as he suggested and I found it all came together and I had the job done in less than an hour. My tumbler is now running smoothly again.
I got the new teardrop bearing on order from here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-Indesit-Teardrop-Bearing-C00142628/dp/B00DJ4K0JK
Many thanks.
Ian Barraclough says
Replaced the teardrop bearing on my Indesit tumble dryer but still squeaking loudly – any ideas?
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Hello Ian, my ideas are all in the article. You have to try and locate where the noise is coming from. Check the tension pulleys as described in the article.
G Garber says
Can the heat pump be the source of increased noise.? Our Samsung 7kg Heat Pump Tumble Drier has become increasingly noisy over the last few months, until the point where we had to stop using it. Although the drier has a 5year warranty the engineer sent by Samsung checked a few other things first, but then he concluded that the Heat Pump is broken and even worse he concluded that it has been broken by us whilst cleaning. My wife told him that she cleaned it with a vacuum cleaner with soft brush, exactly as the manual says. The engineer said , no this should only be cleaned with a sponge. (not in the manual)
Because of this engineer’s statement we had all requests for repair refused. I am planning to bring the retailer to court, although they told me that I would need another engineers view as proof.
I am not even sure if it is the heat pump at all, because I would not trust the first engineer.
Has anyone some good advice ?
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
The heat pump is a black compressor similar to those used in fridges at the back of the dryer which is inaccessible to the customer. If the engineer means the heat exchange or similar (the thin metal fins at the back of a compartment door at the front of the dryer) then I’m not aware how that could cause noise. I don’t think the Samsung engineers actually work for Samsung, they are typically independent engineers used as third party repairers. As such they can vary quite a lot on how good they are.