Whirlpool dryer has become noisy

Empty the drum and listen once, deliberately

Take everything out, close the door and start a short air-only cycle, then stand there for a minute. A regular thump that keeps time with the drum is mechanical. A high squeal that comes and goes with the speed is the belt or the pulley. A loose rattle that changes when you rock the machine is something in the blower housing, and it is often a coin that has come out of a pocket and through the lint screen. Also check the four feet on the floor — a dryer that is not level walks against the wall and the wall makes half the noise.

What it usually means, by the kind of machine

Whirlpool sells one appliance in several forms — a top-loader with an agitator and one without, a front-loader, a stacked pair, a laundry tower and an all-in-one; a vented dryer, a ventless one and a heat pump — and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A top-load washer has no drain pump filter to open and a front-loader does, which is the whole first hour of the same complaint on two machines.

• Electric — Rollers, belt and idler are all reached the same way and are ordinary parts. Most noise repairs on these finish in one visit.
• Gas — Same drum hardware, plus a burner that can add a roar of its own. A noise that only happens while the flame is lit is a different investigation.
• Compact heat pump — Has a compressor and a fan the vented machines do not, so a low hum here can be entirely normal. Whirlpool publishes a page on the normal sounds of these dryers for exactly that reason.

Noise is the cheapest warning you will get

Almost nothing on a dryer fails silently. Rollers thump for months, belts squeal for weeks, bearings scrape and get steadily louder. A machine attended to while it is still noisy is a roller kit and a belt. The same machine six months later can have a scored drum or a seized roller that has taken the belt with it, and at that point the repair is being weighed against a new dryer. On an ordinary Whirlpool that arithmetic tips faster than it does on an expensive machine, which is exactly why the early call is the one worth making.

What we bring

Rollers, belts and idler pulleys for these dryers are stocked rather than ordered, so a noise call on a Whirlpool usually finishes on the visit. We will also check the vent while the back is off, because a restricted duct makes the blower work harder and a hard-working blower is louder — the two problems arrive together often enough that looking at both is simply sensible.