TIL a tiny dab of silicone grease on my dryer's door switch stopped it from eating 3 loads a week
My dryer started acting up 5 weeks ago and would shut off mid cycle, sometimes 10 minutes in, sometimes 40. I was ready to drop $180 on a repair guy in Tacoma until a guy at the hardware store told me the door switch contacts get gunked up with lint and stop making solid contact. I pulled the switch, cleaned the contacts with a pencil eraser, then put a tiny dab of dielectric grease on them, like half a pea size. That was 12 loads ago and it has not cut out once. Took me 15 minutes and cost zero dollars since I already had the grease in my tool bag. Has anyone else fixed a dryer this way, or does the switch usually just die for good after a few years?
Been there with a dryer doing the same thing and yeah, cleaning the switch works more often than people think. Those door switches are dumb simple inside, just two metal tabs that touch when you close the door. Lint and dust build up a film on them over the years and the connection gets weak, so the machine thinks the door popped open and kills the cycle. The grease is the real trick though, because cleaning alone will just gum up again in a couple months. A thin coat keeps the lint from sticking and stops the contacts from pitting. The switch only really dies if the plastic housing cracks or a tab snaps off, otherwise it's almost always just dirty.