This is a story of my stupidity/carelessness. There is a little bit of energy monitoring that helped with the diagnosis.
In January, the heating element on my electric dryer gave out. An OEM element from Samsung was $75, and aftermarket elements on Amazon were $25-30. So guess which one I bought? Obviously, the wrong one.
Put the element in and the dryer worked fine for all of February. Sometime in March, I noticed that wash loads were taking much longer to dry, but the vent felt warm, so I didn't think much of it. I have a Sense meter connected to Node-RED, and I did notice that my dryer was consuming about 2700 watts while running, while previously it was closer to 6000 watts.
This is a 240V element, so I figured something was wrong with one leg. So I went ahead and got a replacement OEM element, and pulled this one. This is what it looked like:
One leg "melted". Luckily it did so in a manner that didn't cause a short or a fire.
I left an Amazon review. I am absolutely not going to be a cheapskate with things like this anymore. If any good comes out of this, I want it to be that others are encouraged to not buy aftermarket appliance parts of uncertain origin that cause serious damage to life/property in the event of a malfunction.
I keep a couple of dryer elements in stock. (We had 5 kids so if the washer or dryer went down I had to get it running or replaced FAST.) The dryer is analog and over 20 yrs old. IIRC, OEMs were no longer available on AMZ. And, yes, I've had one blink out in a manner similar to yours.
Side story: I had an independent repairman come in to replace the bearings once upon a time. The wife mentioned that the dryer was getting a lot of age and she might like a new one. The repairman told her straight up; "Do NOT get rid of this dryer. We can rebuild these over and over again."
Can't agree more with the OP. I am very skeptical about very low-cost aftermarket parts and typically avoid them altogether. If the component operates at household voltage, generates heat/cool or is otherwise a potential safety/fire issue should it fail, I always buy OEM. Similarly, with things like auto parts, a "Lifetime" warranty on something that is time consuming and a real pain to replace is of no value to me. I'll spend the extra money knowing there is less chance I'll be investing many more hours into replacing the part again.
Yup. Terrible design. This is what it looks like with just the door panel removed. And there's no access from the back. LG dryers have a very similar design.
The solution we use pretty much never breaks down. It relies on a simple wire attached to 2 surfaces with pulleys. Not as fast as an electric dryer, but also much cheaper to use and maintain! Apparently, it is not as hard on cloth as a drier, and much better on the environment!
(I do have an electric drier, but it only gets used once or twice a year… if that much…)
Yeah, putting things out to dry in some climates is really like putting them out to moisturize.
@Sebastien - impressed that you are able to make that work so well. We use that option at the cottage, but when home we lazy back into modern conveniences. Yes, that's right, we're worthless and weak...
My in-laws had an OEM element fail in a similar manner but it shorted in such a way that it got REALLY hot and the thermal fuse opened up. Must have been just enough resistance to keep the breaker below the trip rating.
I usually get OEM (or equivalent quality) from a local dealer or a select few reputable online sites.
My experience is the opposite. The OEM part has always been better than aftermarket. Now it is possible the aftermarket part is the OEM part. Suppliers who make/made the OEM part also sells to aftermarket.
BTW my view is: I'm already saving $$$ by diy, best not to cheap out on the parts.
The only place I can see the aftermarket part is better is for things like belts, relays, capacitors where you could purchase a premium part as a replacement.
Absolutely. For instance I don’t think any of the car manufacturers make their own pass and routers, they design in from a brand name.
For brake pads I have been using akebono for years on my BMW. They feel slightly better than oem, perform better, and produce very little brake dust - something BMW pads use to be horrible for. They may have switched because on the later cars it doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue. I am now using akebono on my wife’s Qashqai as well. She did not notice any difference in the drive and her wheels stay cleaner.
For rotors, BMW oem’s rust quickly and do not have a great lifespan. Zimmerman rotors are definitely an upgrade. No I don’t do cross drilled or slotted. I just want something that works well with less maintenance.
Remember fondly the days when I did my own brake jobs on my Five series cars. One of the few tasks where you get to work sitting down and not leaning over something. Gotten lazier in my "old age," so now I let the mechanic do it.
Agree 100% that the stock BMW pads were completely freaking dusty...
I am the only house left in my neighborhood hanging out clothing out every summer. I am not even that old and get side look from older people around It's one of the chore for my kids to do once a week in the summer.
If you have a spare sway bar unit I'd be very appreciative.... Need to replace mine and a rocket cover gasket, both leaking and needing replacing to register the car.... $7-8K fitted for genuine parts from Germany.... I'm definitely looking at aftermarket options.... But may end up back at the dealer to do the job in time...
Ha, sorry I can not help you with a spare sway bar. Lol. I did sway bar bushing on my e46 but never had a sway bar go on me.
I also did the cover gasket and vanos seal kit on that car. That pricing sounds large for those two jobs and neither is really that bad.
I suggest taking a peak at https://www.fcpeuro.com/ for parts. They identify the oem supplier and alternatives. I have even ordered from them and had them ship to Canada when my local indie parts guy could not match the pricing. And they have a great YouTube channel.
It's one of the chore for my kids to do once a week in the summer.
