Tumble Dryer has failed after 16 months

NorthernMonkey1

Hello all, 

In December 2022, I purchased the cheapest tumble dryer I could from a well known online only retailer. It was £219, and came with a 12 month manufacturer guarantee. 

It failed in December, and I called the manufacturer guarantee number, and someone came out and fixed it. It has now failed again, due to a different fault. I suspect this is probably a heater element, but I don't know for certain. 

With it being 16 months old, its outside the guarantee. I'm not sure if I should try a DIY fix, or take some other path. Is 16 months an unreasonable amount of time for a tumble dryer to last? (we do have 2 small children, so it gets used almost every day)

What would be my next steps to resolve this issue please?

SiliconChip

If it's not heating then it's quite likely to be the thermostat that's failed. My tumble drier is over 20 years old and I have to replace the thermostat every few years, it's a cheap component (less than £10 when I last bought one, although it seems to have gone longer than usual without failing so it may have gone up) and once you know where on the machine it is it's an easy DIY replacement (I have to take the back panel off mine). I use either buyspares.co.uk or espares.co.uk, whichever is cheaper at the time.

https://www.buyspares.co.uk/tumble-dryer-spares/catalogue.pl?path=492292:496639

https://www.espares.co.uk/browse/at1088/tumble-dryers

Aylesbury_Duck

NorthernMonkey1 said:

Hello all, 

In December 2022, I purchased the cheapest tumble dryer I could from a well known online only retailer. It was £219, and came with a 12 month manufacturer guarantee. 

It failed in December, and I called the manufacturer guarantee number, and someone came out and fixed it. It has now failed again, due to a different fault. I suspect this is probably a heater element, but I don't know for certain. 

With it being 16 months old, its outside the guarantee. I'm not sure if I should try a DIY fix, or take some other path. Is 16 months an unreasonable amount of time for a tumble dryer to last? (we do have 2 small children, so it gets used almost every day)

What would be my next steps to resolve this issue please?

You could try exercising your consumer rights, but the retailer (not the manufacturer) will probably ask you to get it inspected and a report done to (hopefully) show an inherent flaw or fault of some kind that made failure inevitable.  Then you go to the retailer and ask for a resolution.

16 months doesn't sound reasonable, until...you point out you use it almost every day.  I use our machine half a dozen times a year which is probably at the other end of the typical usage scale.  Daily use for 16 months is a lot, so perhaps the failure is down to wear rather than any inherent problem? You've done 450-500 cycles in 16 months.  That component might have lasted over three years if used three times a week, which I'm guessing might be a more typical use pattern, and three years for a cheap appliance isn't unreasonable.

I'd get onto a local white goods technician to get it inspected.  If s/he says it's just worn out, hopefully they'll just replace the faulty part (at your expense) and on you go.  If they say there's a flaw that made failure inevitable, you're one step on to making a consumer rights claim with the retailer.

NorthernMonkey1

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I'd get onto a local white goods technician to get it inspected.  If s/he says it's just worn out, hopefully they'll just replace the faulty part (at your expense) and on you go.  If they say there's a flaw that made failure inevitable, you're one step on to making a consumer rights claim with the retailer.

It seems to run for about 2 minutes, but during that time, it only draws a few hundred watts instead of >2000w if it was working properly, for that reason, i think it may be a heating element. They're a £40 part, so Ill give it a go, but I didn't want to start down that path if there was a better way. 

Thank you

NorthernMonkey1

SiliconChip said:

If it's not heating then it's quite likely to be the thermostat that's failed. My tumble drier is over 20 years old and I have to replace the thermostat every few years, it's a cheap component (less than £10 when I last bought one, although it seems to have gone longer than usual without failing so it may have gone up) and once you know where on the machine it is it's an easy DIY replacement (I have to take the back panel off mine). I use either buyspares.co.uk or espares.co.uk, whichever is cheaper at the time.

https://www.buyspares.co.uk/tumble-dryer-spares/catalogue.pl?path=492292:496639

https://www.espares.co.uk/browse/at1088/tumble-dryers

Thermostat is an excellent call, thanks, ive just ordered one for a tenner

BoGoF

I've also replaced thermostat a few times. Apparently opening the door mid cycle isn't good for them.

NorthernMonkey1

The thermostat and heater were a single unit item, so the £40 part, along with 45 minutes of bad language to get to the part and its running again. 

macman

What is the brand? A lot of budget white goods are designed down to as low as 500 cycles.