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.
Forbes specialise in renting Bosch appliances so they know them inside out. They also rent other brands and many other products – more details
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.
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.
Choose from the following list of appliance repairers..
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. This water pump can develop a loud screeching noise. Access may be available from the rear panel but some may need side panels and frontages removing.
Repairs
Fixed-price repairs, Pay monthly options, Repair & protect your whole appliance..
Save Money Now
Subscribe to Which? today and start saving money now. Subscription offers often available.
Spares
Spares4Appliances is a spares company run by repair engineers who understand all about spare parts for appliances.
Thank you Andy, Yes you are right it says the heat exchanger. It seemed strange to me too that this can cause excessive noise. The engineer did not find why it was noisy, when he saw that the finns of the heat exchanger are a bit bent he did not do any further testing but he just concluded this as the reason.
Thanks for all the help so far. I have had the same issues as above but have 1 additional one…..the shaft seems to be pushing down on the bearing as the weight of the drum appears to be resting on the teardrop bearing at the back which makes it eventually rotating downwards leaving the shaft resting on the machine casing, that’s where me squeaking noise is coming from, am I missing something? Surely the drum weight isn’t supposed to be supported by that one screw on the bearing.
Maybe if I move the belt slightly towards the front of the drum then that tension will take the weight of the bearing by lifting the shaft up a bit? Any thoughts.Thanks in advance.
As far as I can see that’s just how it’s designed David. In my opinion many tumble dryers are not well made at all.
Thanks for reply. I`ve done as suggested above and rotated the bearing 180 degrees in the hope that a slightly bigger self tapping screw holds it better. Will wait and see. Any other advice is welcome though!
Mine ended up being the pulley tensioner wheel. Replaced and no more squeaking.
Thanks Ian for info. This may sound ridiculous to you guys in the know but, does Indesit Model IS60V have a pulley tensioner? I never noticed one when I changed the belt.
Dryers often have just an extremely tight drive belt these days which can be very difficult to fit.
Cheers, that`s what I thought Andy…it was a struggle to stretch it on! Anyway as an update on my situation – the dryer isn`t making a noise since slightly moving the belt and rotating the bearing 180 degrees and re-attaching it with a more `manly` screw.
Thanks all.
Update to previous.
The noise was caused by the rear seal sticking. The reason for this was massive build up of lint inside the heat pump unit, stopping the water reaching the reservoir. This water was being force back into the machine by the fan making the rear seal damp and causing it to squeak and jam. 3 belts, 2 seals and a jockey wheel later all seems to be ok. Had to strip the whole machine down to access the pump though.
Dan
Make sure it isn’t one of these models Dan Hotpoint Creda & Indesit Tumble Dryer Fire Risk
Thanks Andy. Not one of those. All the lint build up in the heat pump was very wet.
Cheers! Dan
Thank you all for the information. I am storing this for a later time. I do, however have a question. My husband and I got a indesit dryer in January. It makes this awful noise for the first few minutes it’s on, then it stops. It is like a rumbling noise. Any suggestions? It may be what your suggesting.. But being only two months old I hope it’s not anything serious.
Thanks, Erica
Whatever it is you need to get them to fix it whilst it’s under guarantee Erica. It’s not acceptable for it to be so noisy even if it does stop after a while. Just make sure it is cold when they look at it so they can hear the noise.