Tumble dryer help

Justamum

Hi, I hope someone can advise me on this one.

I have a Hotpoint TD which I bought last September, and the dryer belt has snapped. The company which fixes Hotpoint machines over here has advised me that the repair of it might not be covered by the guarantee! This same company came and repaired my last tumble dryer (whilst it was still under guarantee) and charged me over £60 because a bra wire was stuck behind the drum and that, apparently, isn't covered under guarantee (they didn't actually tell me that before the guy came out :mad:). Is this true, or were they pulling a fast one?

Anyway, I'm a bit reluctant to call the guy out and find out I have to fork out nearly £75 :eek: for a repair which should be free. Does anybody know anything about this (consumer rights etc?)

I'm seriously thinking of getting a better rotary dryer and one of those rotaire covers as there's not a lot which can go wrong with them

totalsolutions

As no one has offered, the belt is an easy fix and should last more than 5yrs! They can also pop off - are you sure its snapped? Still in warranty then ....

andrew-b

Should be easy enough to replace yourself really . Just a case of taking the back off and hooking a belt over the drum and onto the drive shaft. Belt itself shouldn't cost more than a tenner. If it's not covered under guarantee i guess you'd have to be paying a similar price to before for a repair .

Bra wire trapped is quite a common thing in washers or driers and it's very unlikely it would have been covered by guarantee so the previous charge seems reasonable. Use one of the mesh bags (supermarket, betterware etc) to put your bras in before they go in the washer/dryer as it can save alot of hassle.

P.S. Rotary airers aren't necessarily fault free...as we found out with a homebase one that took 2 of us half hour just to lower it..so pick carefully if you go this route!

Justamum

andrew-b wrote: »

Should be easy enough to replace yourself really . Just a case of taking the back off and hooking a belt over the drum and onto the drive shaft. Belt itself shouldn't cost more than a tenner.

Not easy at all! When our last dryer had this problem we weren't prepared to pay out another small fortune, so my DH took the back off - well it sort of all falls apart when you do that. Then he battled like mad to get the new belt on and it's not easy. Apparently you can buy a special tool to help you but they are not cheap. We ended up buying a new dryer.

We do have a rotary dryer atm and it's always worked fine - except the rain is a major problem, hence the need for a TD. But I am seriously thinking of getting a new, bigger rotary dryer.

andrew-b

To get the belt on you have to secure them to the drum using a bit of string or cable tie, hook over the drive shaft pulley and turn the drum by hand which magically fits the belt...only done this on a washer but the same principle should apply.

craig_e

I tried to fit a replacement belt to an indesit dryer and gave up in the end. They are quite flimsy once you undo the sides.

I'm sure a decent repair man would know exactly which bits to undo without it falling apart!

Justamum

craig_e wrote: »

I tried to fit a replacement belt to an indesit dryer and gave up in the end. They are quite flimsy once you undo the sides.

I'm sure a decent repair man would know exactly which bits to undo without it falling apart!

The man came today and changed the belt. He also changed the drive shaft which was loose and making a funny noise - all under the guarantee luckily!

Anyway I watched him change the belt so I could tell my DH for next time it snaps :rotfl:. Ours is Hotpoint, but is identical to Indesit. DON'T UNDO THE SIDES OR REMOVE THE BACK seems to be the trick. Take off the top, then take off the front (you have to remove the plastic strip bit at the bottom and undo a few screws there too). That way the drum stays attached at the back. He stretched the belt over his knees a couple of times before putting it on (pulled it in place with his thumbs) then put it all back together. Voila!

Unfortunately when he tried it, it was then he heard the funny noise so ended up taking the whole thing apart anyway.

He left it running for about half an hour - empty - so that the belt would settle into place.

He did say the Bosch dryers don't fall apart when you take off any of the panels.