Samsung Front Load Dryer not spinning

[cpa...@gmail.com]

Here is the issue: Turn the power on and then when you hit start all I get is a hum.

I had a tech come and look at it. If you hit start get the hum and then start spinning the drum by hand it starts to rotate and works great again.

He then told me it was the motor and would cost $425 parts and labor to get it fixed. The unit is only 18 months old, and he only spent about 3 min looking at it. Once he saw that he could manual make it spin he said that he knew it was the motor. So before I spend that type of money on a unit that is still new I wanted to see if anyone else had this issue. Thanks for your help.

Wet clothes Family

[Don Y]

Motor start capacitor. $15 (if you get screwed)

[cpa...@gmail.com]

Thanks Don, so its not the motor?

[Don Y]

I can't say that without seeing it.

We had a "motor failure" that I traced to the centrifugal clutch
that OPENs the connections to the start capacitor once the
drum starts moving.

We had an ACbrrr fan that wouldn't "start" that I traced to
a bad motor cap. etc.

I.e., if YOU are trying to troubleshoot the problem, it's
one thing I would look at (relatively inexpensive) as it
could explain your symptoms.

It could also be a loose belt/tensioner pulley.

Or a bad clutch switch (if the motor uses one).

Or a bad motor.

etc. It's relatively easy for a technician to lump every
related issue into a "bad motor" diagnosis instead of
identifying the specific cause.

[And, chances are, if he replaced the motor and it still
didn't spin, he'd claim you ALSO needed a start cap! When,
in fact, that may be ALL that you needed!]

Being an electrical engineer, I tend to look for electrical
fixes first (less involved than mechanical ones!)

If "still new", do you have warranty coverage? Note some
credit cards will double the original warranty if you purchased it
with plastic (worth checking your records).

Bottom line is YOU have to decide what your time is worth
(money, aggravation, etc.).

[cl...@snyder.on.ca]

Check to see if it is a capacitor start motor. If so, replace cap and
see what happens.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'd want to check if there is a run capacitor
on the motor. I replaced a run cap on a clothes
washer, years ago. "start by hand and runs" is
the diagnostic clue.

--
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
. www.lds.org
.
.

[Stormin Mormon]

On 3/2/2016 3:26 PM, cpa...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>
>>> I had a tech come and look at it. If you hit start get the hum and then
>>> start spinning the drum by hand it starts to rotate and works great again.
>>>
>
>

>>> Wet clothes Family
>>
>> Motor start capacitor. $15 (if you get screwed)
>
> Thanks Don, so its not the motor?
>

Unlikely. Motors can get sluggish, and can burn out
altogether. But, the hand start bit strongly suggests
bad run capacitor. The $tech$ is likely planning to
replace both the $motor$ and the run cap at the same
time.

[Micky]

On Wed, 2 Mar 2016 11:42:07 -0800 (PST), cpa...@gmail.com wrote:

When I had a top loading washing machine that would agitate but would
not spin (just hummed) unless I pushed it to get it started, it was
the belt that was not tight enough.

When I called an oil company with a furnace repair department because
I was going away for 2 months in the middle of the winter and the
furnace blower was making rattling noises, he replaced the motor and
two minutes after he left the blower was making the same noise. He
didn't wait to see if it still made the noise. It was the squirrel
cage, a much cheaper part. If he had any experience, he should have
been able to tell.

18 months is not long enough for either the belt or the motor to wear
out, normally, but the belt could have been put on loose in the first
place. And the start capacitor might be bad.

[TimR]

I had a similar problem.

On mine there was a centrifugal switch that connects the start capacitor. Motor was fine, start capacitor was fine, but the switch was hanging up.

I lubricated it with some high temp silicone grease (I think) and it ran fine for years after.

I found it by accident. I bumped the centrifugal switch and it snapped back into position.

[Micky]

On Thu, 3 Mar 2016 08:40:29 -0800 (PST), TimR <timot...@aol.com>
wrote:

LOL

When I was about 13 I was trying to fix the Lionel train transformer.
Took the cover off, spent 15 minutes looking at the parts from all
angles (I'd never seen the inside of one before), and finally noticed
it was plugged in and I hadn't gotten a shock. Figured out the plug
was bad.