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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Hello Steve. A bearing could be loose or dry but it’s difficult to access if it’s something potentially serious or not. I would suspect it’s coming against some sort of resistance when the drum turns in that direction. But if you can turn it by hand and it feels the same both ways it’s difficult to guess how and where.
I have a Proline condenser dryer and it appears to be making a scraping noise… Any ideas?
Hello Michelle. Metallic scraping noises are described in the article. I would recommend getting a repair engineer to look at it. Condenser dryers can be difficult to take apart.
I’ve inherited a 5 year old AEG lavatherm condenser dryer. The first 2 mins of a cycle are quiet then it starts with a high pitch squeal for about 10 minutes then it goes quiet again for the rest of the cycle. If I lean against the top of the door whilst it’s squeaking, it goes away only to return when I let go again. Any ideas? Thanks in advance
I’ve just repaired my Indesit dryer today, the screeching became unbearable, it began a few weeks ago, started with just a slight screech but by the end of said few weeks it was doing my head in, god knows what the neighbours must have thought I was doing! I purchased a tear drop replacement part from amazon, was only a few pounds, it looks a bit like to the top of a ring pull from a can of pop, only a lot thicker, I followed the instructions as per Simon lanes blog above, there is also a link to follow which he posted and fitting it worked a dream, so easy, now nothing, no screech or scream! by the way I’m a woman, If i can fit one, anyone can! lol, thank you Simon, for your post! Saved me a lot of money!
Hi all after getting the buckle of my coat caught in the dryer it keeps making a banging noise as if iv got a pair of trainers in there iv took the top of the dryer belt seems fine but iv noticed a little bit of damage on the cushion seal would this be the cause of the banging noise?
The chances are something has been damaged Nikkie. The buckle could have damaged the lip of the drum and or the bearing surface it runs on. It’s not possible to guess if it’s serious or not though.
I fitted a new tear drop bearing on my creda tvr2 and the bearing has worn away in 2 weeks any help to as why please
Hello John. I can only guess the drum isn’t aligned properly for some reason, or maybe the metal shaft that runs inside it also needed replacing.
Thanks Andy took It apart and yes the metal shaft does need replacing thanks for the reply