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Vent: my neighbor's $40 'repair' made my dryer worse, and I fixed it with a $2 part
Last Tuesday my dryer started squealing like a dying bird. Neighbor Larry said he could fix it, charged me $45 cash to replace the belt. Two days later it sounds worse and smells like burnt rubber. Took the back off myself, turned out he put the belt on wrong and it was grinding against the motor. Bought a proper belt kit at Ace for $2.27, followed a 6 minute video, done in 20 minutes. I'm not mad at him, I'm mad I didn't just try first. Anyone else paid someone for a fix that ended up being a simple DIY with an online guide? What's your worst 'should've just looked it up' moment?
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holly_craig5d ago
Remember the belt kit probably came with a new tensioner spring too, right? Those little springs are the thing that actually keeps the belt tight, so if your neighbor reused the old one, that could be why it was squealing again. I've seen people swap the belt but skip the spring and it just ends up slipping off the drum. Good on you for checking the video first, that's the smart way. Worst one I did was paying $80 to have a guy tell me my dishwasher needed a new pump when it was just a clogged filter screen I could have cleaned in five minutes.
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