Whirlpool 279827 Dryer Drive Motor

The good news is that this is a great replacement for the motor in our Kenmore dryer at half the price for of an American made motor. This motor is made in China and the frame is less rugged than the American version. It also is slightly louder but well within the acceptable range especially if you have a door on your laundry room. (We always keep our door closed anyway.)The bad news is that the first motor I received made such a loud noise that my wife thought it was the buzzer that sounds when your close are dry. When I reported this to the seller they sent me an RMA along with a UPS mailing label that did not include home pickup but the local UPS office was nearby so not big deal.Installing the motor requires that the dryer drum be removed and that the impeller fan be removed from the motor shaft. Taking the impeller off the shaft presented a little problem because it is not obvious how it is attached. I waited until the new motor arrived and found that the impeller is screwed onto the shaft in such a direction that it tends to tighten as the motor turns. If you are at the back of the dryer you can unscrew the impeller by turning it clockwise. The other end of the shaft can be held by placing a wrench on the hexagonal shaped wheel to which the drive belt attaches.I first tried to remove the impeller by using a wrench on the square end of the impeller that attaches to the shaft. I do not recommend this method as it could damage the impeller which is exactly what I did but I realized my mistake soon enough to prevent serious damage. I finally was able to remove the impeller by immobilizing the impeller and by turning the shaft (hex end) clockwise (as seen from that end of the motor).When you install the new motor, make sure you align the little protrusion on the plastic collar with the notch in the motor bracket. I used a large screwdriver and a hammer to put the spring brackets brackets back on. I lined up the bracket, put the screwdriver in the curved end of the spring bracket and gave is a sharp tap with the hammer and it popped right in to place.Reinstalling the drive belt can be a little tricky if you didn't notice how it was installed before you took it apart. I suggest you use a digital camera before you disassemble it and take a picture if you don't think you will remember how it was connected. If you already removed it and didn't take a picture you can find parts diagrams on-line that illustrate how it should be connected. You may need a helper to hold up the drum while you put the drive belt back on the motor.Finally I think I could have avoided replacing the whole motor if I could have found a replacement capacitor. I'm going to hang onto the old motor and keep looking for a new capacitor. If I find one I'll fix the motor and keep it for future use or sell it on-line.Revised Update: I previously reported that this motor failed after 18 months. I was wrong, the motor did not fail. Read on and you'll be shaking your head by the end. I originally reported the "failed" motor to the vendor who kindly sent me a replacement even though it was out of warranty. When I installed the replacement it also did not work. Voltages were fine but the original motor only turned slowly while the replacement only buzzed. I contacted the vendor who now was a little suspicious. Nonetheless he asked me to send the two "bad" motors back for testing. If he finds they are both faulty he will reimburse my shipping costs and send me a new motor. Fine, I did as he asked.We had already been without a dryer for over a week and I realized that it would probably be two weeks before we would get a replacement motor. I decided to buy a used dryer that we could use in the interim. When I picked up the used dryer it was running so I knew it was working but when I got it home and plugged it in, it didn't work. It only made a little hum.I knew I was in trouble and decided that there must be something wrong with the electric even though the voltages on both hot wires of the 220 volt line were fine. I thought it might be a bad circuit breaker so I shut off the power and took the breaker out. It seemed fine, no signs of arcing, no corrosion, no bad smell, it was fine. I stepped back and took a look around the rest of the circuit box and discovered a wire at the bottom that had melted in two. Further investigation showed that the wire had connected the ground bus to the common bus something that is not uncommon in older homes.When I removed the wire I was dumfounded by what I found. It wasn't a wire at all. It was a section of coat hanger!!!! It still had the little curly part that is left when you untwist a hanger. I have no idea who the idiot was who did this but he could have burned the whole house down. We bought this house in 1985 so it has been that way for a long time.This still did not explain why the motor didn't work but I soon discovered that the common line from the dryer circuit had been connected to the ground bus and not to the common bus as it should have been. I moved it over. I turned the power on and when I tested the dryer it worked.There was some corrosion on the aluminum ground-bus. Although aluminum is a good conductor, aluminum oxide is not. As the ground bus corroded it became less and less conductive and more and more of the electricity was flowing over to the common bus through the "coat hanger wire" which also was corroding. Finally as the current increased it got so hot that it melted and the dryer failed because the electricity could no longer flow through the circuit.I will soon be replacing the whole electric box but just to make sure there is a good ground until I install the new circuit box, I connected the ground and common buses together using a heavy gauge copper wire.Today I received my original motor back from the vender and installed it in the dryer. It works great and I was not charged for the return shipping. I had previously downgraded my first rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. I am now changing it to 5 stars. The motor works great. It may be slightly louder than the original but the service I received from Seneca River Trading, Inc. was outstanding. They had good reason to suspect that I was trying to get a free motor but they never accused me of that and they continued to work with me until my problem was solved. They spent a lot of time and even paid for the return shipping. Now that is outstanding service and I will never ever hesitate to order from that company in the future. I highly recommend this motor and Seneca River Trading, Inc.

Worked great

Fitted perfectly. Older whirlpool estate dryer but plug correct and shaft length perfect. Exact fit and works great.Hard to get the blower wheel off but I was successful. Worth ordering blower wheel in advance just in case you have to cut it off or if it gets damaged it on removal. Vice grips and impact did the trick eventually. Very good replacement motor product.

Easy replacement, no instructions needed for me. Works as it should and honestly, better than the old one did for years. Yes, it is not perfectly silent but then again neither are your clothes when they are rolling around the dryer. It is a non-issue for me as I can’t hear it over the dryer load anyway.

This is a good replacement OEM motor for my 30 + years old dryer.The instructions were reasonably clear. Note that this motor will retrofit many models so it may require some minor customizations (instructions include them all in a brief manner).The metals slotted bands which hold the motor in place are tricky to remove and you could get hurt from their sharp edges. Using a screw driver to stretch the bands to remove or secure them on their place can cause the screw driver to slip and cause serious cuts. A nut driver with a small socket to hold the curled edge of the metal bands worked better since it will not easily slip off the metals band ends. But, be careful in this step.I made one wiring error which gave me a lot of grief. The instructions asked to remove and discard a short blue jumper wire between the 'overload switch' and the 'motor switch' (which has multiple male spade terminals). I realized that I had mistakenly connected the 4A blue main harness wire (from the dryer) to the terminal 4 on the motor switch side (a 1/8" spade connector) where the rest of the dryer harness connections were made to connect. The right thing to do is to connect the 4A blue main harness wire (from the dryer) to the overload switch side which has a wider spade (1/4") connector. (The dryer harness had a female 1/4" spade connector - which mated perfectly). Once having fixed the connection, it worked perfectly. (I wish the FSP instructions were a bit more clear).To check correct connections, do the following at your own risk and only if you understand how to wire and understand electrical connections. Do not put in the drum and belt. Disconnect main plug of the dryer. Complete all dryer harness to motor connections, secure motor with its bands.Do either Step A or B:Step A: Bypass the door switch (Note: One side of the door switch wire has a single wire running to a single spade terminal. This is the hot wire. The other side of the door switch has two spade terminals and two wires. Depressing the door switch (when dryer door is closed) allows the motor to turn and shuts off the drum light. On opening the dryer door, the non-depressed switch shuts the motor and turns on the dryer light). With door switch disconnected from all three wires, find which of the two spade connectors shows continuity to the single spade connector on the other side of the door switch when the door switch in its depressed position (This will be the terminal whose wire allows power to the motor). Short the door switch hot wire to this wire.OR, skip Step A and do Step B:Step B: You can remove the door switch from the dryer panel and make the connections normally. Ensure insulation of the door switch terminals from everything else.Leave nothing exposed to making grounding shorts to dryer body. Check all connections carefully and out in the dryer plug.If you did Step A, then the motor should run only upon hitting the 'Start' button and stay on.If you did Step B, then you will need to additionally depress the door switch while making sure that the door switch terminals do not touch you or anything else. Again,ensure insulation of the door switch terminals from all else. Motor should run only upon hitting the 'Start' button and stay on. Releasing the door switch button should turn it off.The motor tends to have a bit of a howl when warm.