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.
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.
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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.
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I have an AEG Lavatherm vented dryer which is used every other day and is approx 8 years old. Recently it has developed a whining noise most of the time but not every time it is in use. With a light load it’s fine but a full load of dog towels and it whines for most of the drying time. Any ideas what might be causing this?
I would suspect a whining noise to be potentially caused by a dry bearing. It might be difficult to locate but drum bearings are at the front and the back. However it’s possible it could be something else as described noises are hard to work with.
My creda tumble dryer only squeals when rotating one way, it’s ok when it spins the opposite way round. What do you think the problem is please?
Hello Paula. If it has tension pulleys either side of the drive belt it could be that one of them is squeaking due to wear. Tension pulleys are mentioned in my article. A lot of modern dryers have done away with them though, but older ones always used to have them.
I deal in scrap metal and almost all tumble dryers i get in have a worn rear bearing, these are very easy to change unless it has cut so far through that it has cut the drum shaft to. If the shaft has cut through look inside the drum and if you can see 3 screws at the back of the drum your in luck the shaft can be changed, if you see 3 rivets , start looking for a new machine or drum. When replacing the rear copper bearing add a little cooper grease , this is a high temperature and water resistant grease that can be found on ebay for a couple of £. Also while you machine is apart its a good idea to check the 4 plastic pads that the front of the drum sits on, if very thin or broken / missing replace them.
The main way to prolong the life of your machine is to keep loads light and keep fluff filters clean ( after every use ) and if you have a condenser dryer, clean condenser cassette regularly.
Hello Lee. Many dryers aren’t very well built and are very flimsy. Unfortunately few people look after appliances too, they rarely even properly read the instruction books. The condensor dryers in particular need careful looking after and have more than one filter that needs cleaning after each use.
When it comes to noises, again, too many people ignore them until it’s too late. As you say if the bearing is replaced promptly it’s not a big job but when they wait until long after they get metallic scraping it’s usually caused too much damage.
Tumble dryers that make a noise when going one way but not the other? I’ve just fixed mine. It was the carbon brush juddering against the slip ring, it sounded like an angry goose! … and it’s loud, too!
I think it’s so loud because the slip ring goes around the outside of the entire drum, so the drum amplifies it.
The slip ring is there to provide a contact for the sensors inside the drum, so only sensor dryers would have a slip ring, as far as I know.
Have a Bosch condenser and noticed today it is making a sound like the beat of a drum. Any ideas?
Hello Gary. If the noise is being made once per revolution of the drum I’d suspect damage to the belt. This can be observed with the lid off. Other than that it could be various things and needs observing to try and track down where the noise is coming from (ie. the front the back, from the base?).
I had the modification done on my Hotpoint dryer in June. It started with a mild ‘squeaking’ soon after. This is now very pronounced, but only squeaks when rotating in one direction.
Called customer services this morning to report the fault that I think has only developed post modification and was told that it had nothing to do with the modification. Questioned this stance as how could the customer services operator determine the nature of the fault without a report from an engineer.
Your thoughts / recommendations please.