Maytag gas dryer — a broken drum roller, and a cabinet full of lint — Demarest, NJ
The noise was the easy part. What mattered more was what the noise made us open the machine to find: years of lint packed around a gas burner.
- Appliance
- Gas dryer
- Brand
- Maytag
- Location
- Demarest, NJ
- Symptom
- Loud banging on every turn of the drum
- Cause
- One of the two drum support rollers had broken up. Separately, heavy lint throughout the cabinet
- Repair
- Roller replaced, cabinet stripped and cleaned out, remaining components checked
The call
The complaint was noise. A hard banging every time the drum came round, loud enough that nobody in the house wanted to run the machine.
What we found
The noise itself was straightforward. A dryer drum rests on support rollers, and one of the two had broken up — part of its rim had come away. Every rotation dropped the drum onto the gap and back off it again. That is the banging, and it names itself the moment the machine is open.
What mattered more was everything around it. The inside of the cabinet was packed with lint: a felted layer lying over the base, the wiring buried in it, drifts built up against the blower housing. This is a gas dryer. There is an open flame inside it, and lint is what fires are made of.
Here is the part worth being precise about, because it is what people get wrong. The vent on this machine had been cleaned — there were stickers on it from two different companies, one dated 2018 and one from last year. That is a different job, and a necessary one. A vent cleaner clears the duct running to the outside wall; it does not open the dryer cabinet. Both need doing. Only one of them had been.
The fix
The roller was replaced — the broken one and its replacement are both in the photographs below. Then the cabinet was stripped and cleaned out properly, and the rest of the components were checked while it was open.
Our recommendation to the owner is the reason this write-up exists: a dryer should be opened and cleaned inside at least once a year. On a gas machine that is not housekeeping.
And if you have had your vent cleaned, that is good, and it is not the same thing. Ask whether the cabinet itself was opened. Most of the time it was not.
Seeing the same thing?
If your appliance is behaving this way, we can usually tell you what's happening on the first visit. Every call starts with a $110 diagnostic — sales tax included — that's credited toward the repair.
More on Washer & Dryer Repair and appliance repair in Demarest.
Call (551) 255-3689Factory-authorized for Speed Queen and Z-Line — experienced across every major brand
Speed Queen and Z-Line repairs are done under manufacturer authorization. Everything else is backed by 21 years of hands-on experience on these machines.
Factory-Authorized: Speed Queen & Z-Line
For these two brands we are an authorized service provider — repairs done to manufacturer standard that keep your warranty intact.
Brands we service every day
From everyday household names to high-end built-ins, outdoor kitchens and commercial equipment — the same list everywhere we work, backed by 21 years of hands-on experience.
We also work directly with Liberty Home Guard and New Leaf on covered home-warranty claims.
Tell us what's going on
Leave your details and describe the problem. We'll call you back to book a visit — every repair starts with a $110 diagnostic that's credited toward the fix.