Dryer problem. Help?

[lizziegrace]

I bought a 10 year old Kenmore 70 Series dryer when I moved here. Couldn't afford new...

My appliances are on a suicide mission again. $1200 repair for the Ford (broken spring in the rear and brakes) and the dryer interior is blue. Bright blue. Anything lighter than jeans are being streaked with blue and even bleach won't remove it from the clothes. I tried using rubbing alcohol to wipe it off the drum, but that didn't budge it. I don't mind drying clothes outside when it gets warmer, but sometimes I need to dry medium/light clothes in a dryer.

Any suggestions? Has anyone ever replaced a drum before. Is it even possible?

TIY!

[Warpy]

1. Finding a cleaning solvent can be tricky

Other than alcohol, there's always water (which sounds likely since the stuff is coming off on your clothing), acetone (nail polish remover), and more exotic and dangerous things like MEK and toluol. My first guess would be a scrub brush, water, and strong soap as a way to get rid of most of it. I know of very little that will survive an application of the concentrated industrial soap Costco sells.

You can replace the drum, but it's a pricey operation.

You need to contact the seller, also, and register your disapproval. It sounds like what happened was a dye job in cold water in their washer, followed by trying to set the dye in the dryer. That doesn't work, squared.

At least you can think of the clothes they ruined trying to do it.

[lizziegrace]

4. I bought the dryer on Craigslist

with the washer for $125. The set was about 10 years old when I bought it and there was a bit of just on the door, nowhere else in the drum.

All the 'damage' has come about since I started using it.

I don't have (and can't afford) a membership to Costco. Is there a comparable industrial soap I can find somewhere else?

[Warpy]

7. Yeah, the stuff they sell at Home Depot with the janatorial supplies

is nearly as good. It's all a concentrated form of Janitor in a Drum. Do wear gloves if you use it concentrated, it'll suck all the moisture right out of your skin.

Good luck!

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. I don't know how long it has been that way.

But I do know if it just occurred it will most likely completely dry in there and will not effect yer cloths. Believe this, it is not uncommon to see that in older dryers. Have you run the dryer with out cloths in yet?hummmmm!

If it is more serious than I think ,and I don't think it is, I dried a pen once in ours, it too left blue.It is still there.

You could contact a manufacturer web site trouble shooting and see it there is a recommended solution to that problem. There may be a product you can buy to remove that. Or over the phone a tec rep. may say just run the dryer on high without cloths in it ,than throw something in there that don't matter ,old cloths what ever and see if any residue collects on what ever you stick in there. That would be what you call a self cure method.

I suspect yer problem is no big deal really.

[lizziegrace]

3. The dryer interior is almost entirely bright blue now

For the longest time, I thought my daughter was doing laundry the way her grandmother does - everything in, regardless of color. Now it's obvious since I've been sorting the loads that the color is transferring from the dryer drum.

A Magic Eraser worked some, but the depth of the dryer and my bad shoulder are going to make this a tough job. In the meantime, I've stopped using dryer sheets, liquid fabric softener and liquid detergent (I've read that it can react with well water and copper pipes). I've been drying medium and light colored clothes on racks inside.

I've gotten a lot of good ideas on FB and via PMs. It's just going to take a while...

Thanks everyone!

[Kolesar]

5. Scrub it with Lestoil?

I used Lestoil to get black Rustoleum (tm) oil based paint out of a throw rug Sunday. It has this ability to lift paint and grease like nothing I have ever seen.

[lizziegrace]

6. I'll give that a try

thanks!

[MajorChode]

8. If it doesn't, replacing the drum is pretty easy.

For most dryers, you simply remove the front and the drum comes out relatively easily. There will probably be some screws and perhaps some spring clips holding the front to the rest of the sheet metal frame. I haven't priced replacing the whole drum, so I'm not sure if it will be cost effective to do so. If it is, look at the bushings and the belt and see if they need replacing while you are in there.