Any Whirlpool drier repairmen?

The Cheapest Drier Imaginable* is not drying clothes again.  This will be the third time I've had to replace the heating element in three(ish) years.  I'm not upset about doing it, I'd have to replace it roughly 5 more times at the current price for an element for it to start to not be more economical to replace the whole drier.  I do wish I didn't have to do it so often, though.  Maybe I'm not getting the best option?  

Anyone have any thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/Whirlpool-WED5100VQ0/s?k=Whirlpool+WED5100VQ0

*Cheapest Drier Imaginable, earned this title by being bought, along with a washer, for $75.  It included delivery and install roughly 12 years ago and hasn't had any issues till the heating element crapped out the first time.

Would a factory part be a better option? I usually by parts stuff from repair clinic or ereplacementparts.com

Are you sure that your dryer vent is clear?  I have an older Maytag dryer and it seemed to be taking a long time to dry a load.  Then the element burned out.  I replaced it.  It worked for a year?  Still took a long time to dry.  Then the element burned out again.  I finally took the hint and ordered a dryer vent cleaning system off of Amazon.  It was like 30 bucks. 

I used that thing to drag about 50 pounds of soggy wet lint out of my dryer duct.  It literally filled a garbage bag. 

Dryer works very well now.

In reply to jgrewe :

That's what I was wondering, and also wondering where to get factory parts.  I'll look into the price difference and make sure to note it for next time?  
At least the new washer spins hard enough to mostly dry stuff.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

Good thought.  The vent tube is fairly short, but could still have a decent amount of crap in it.  When I pull the drier out to check the element I'll take a look there as well.

My GRM technique is to secure a leaf blower into the vent where it leaves the dryer and blow it all out for ten minutes.

Doing this at our new house expelled a years-old very large bird's nest, among other major obstructions. 

It's also pretty easy to move the dryer outside, remove all the access panels, and go to town with the leaf blower some more.

I just buy a new hose, cleaning lint out of a corrugated pipe is a pain.

porschenut said:

I just buy a new hose, cleaning lint out of a corrugated pipe is a pain.

I agree, and I do have a new flexible duct from the dryer to where it transitions to a hard 4" smoothwall metal duct that goes through the floor and down about a foot into the crawlspace, then elbows 90 degrees and runs about 20 feet to an exterior wall.  The metal duct was where the soggy lint was.

My electric dryer has a thermostat on it as well as some kind of thermal fuse or cut-off switch.  Is it possible that one or both of those are faulty, allowing the heating element to get too hot and shortening its life?

In reply to wae :

Too much lint in the vent popped our thermostat, too, so lesson learned. (We now have all new ducting.)

I need to clean out our duct but its about 30 feet up on the side of the house.  The hose goes along inside the attic to the very edge where you can't even reach the mulit-flapped exit.  Stupid set up.  

Owning a Samsung dryer has led me to buy two of a part when something fails because it is absolutely certain that the next time it fails will be the least convenient possible.   And having the spare on hand is pretty nice.

I've replaced that same part twice this year, both times the element was burnt. The nice thing is they are cheap as dirt to replace, just annoying. I'd pay for a better quality one, but they all look like the same Chinese crap on Amazon. eBay is the same thing. Searching the part number at applied parts stores appears to be the same junk too. 
 

The vent is super short, and wasn't clogged either time. The quality of these things is just garbage. 

I've had to do this a couple of times on our Whirlpool. It seems like the factory replacement part lasted longer (5+ years), but not sure why. Make sure not to touch the element with bare skin (oils), and check for proper location and clearance for the element before you install. I found the problem to be broken ceramic insulators that allowed the element to touch the frame and short out. Maybe due to bad thermostat letting it overheat, idk. I replaced that too last time, even though it checked out fine.

Start to finish, 20 minutes.  Most pain in the ass thing was the damn vent.  Next time I'll get one of those magnet thingies.

In reply to Porschenut: I was scrolling down this thread and my brain read "I just buy a new house, cleaning lint out of a corrugated pipe is a pain." I just had time to think,"Man, there's a guy who really doesn't like cleaning out lint" before common sense clicked in and I went back for another look.

Mr_Asa said:

Start to finish, 20 minutes.  Most pain in the ass thing was the damn vent.  Next time I'll get one of those magnet thingies.

 

David S. Wallens said:

Mr_Asa said:

Start to finish, 20 minutes.  Most pain in the ass thing was the damn vent.  Next time I'll get one of those magnet thingies.

 

Sexy piece of kit, yeah?

Stealthtercel said:

In reply to Porschenut: I was scrolling down this thread and my brain read "I just buy a new house, cleaning lint out of a corrugated pipe is a pain." I just had time to think,"Man, there's a guy who really doesn't like cleaning out lint" before common sense clicked in and I went back for another look.

LOL - I did the same. 

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Found the company: Magvent. That would actually work well for us.

I've never contemplated spending 70$ on a dryer vent coupling. Until now. 

lnlogauge said:

I've never contemplated spending 70$ on a dryer vent coupling. Until now. 

Same. Periodically, ours comes undone. The clamp is as tight as it will go.

This is something....

And speaking of washers and dryers, our washer popped a drive coupler this weekend. 

Our dryer stopped drying Christmas Eve.  Parts are on order and should be here Wednesday, hopefully.