Hotpoint TDL30 front felt seal

[conaero]

Hi am after some advice. The front felt seal went on our tumble dryer and we did leave it for a few weeks making the scraping metal on metal sound.

So I take it apart and sure enough, the felt seal was worn through to the metal on the top/upper third.

New genuine felt seal ordered from UKWG and I meticulously cleaned all the old seal off, cleaned with thinners and applied the new seal. I noted when I peaked off the adhesive backing that it’s not very tacky.

Applied the new seal, reassembled and all was well…for about 4 weeks.

Last week the machine started making the same noise again and sure enough, top third of the seal has scrapped itself off again.

So I checked the inside of the drum that mates with the seal and it’s not totally smooth but not exactly rough either, some evidence of rubbing.

So can anyone advise as to where my issue is? Is it the rear bearing (seems ok but you can move the front of the drum up and down a bit), the lack of adhesion of the felt seal of the mild course drum mating surface?

Thanks in advance techies!

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint TDL30 front felt seal

Sounds like you left it far too long before replacing it. Sadly the original metal front duct is NLA. The drum and duct kit that replaced it is also now obsolete. 🙁

[conaero]

Re: Hotpoint TDL30 front felt seal

So are you saying it’s the fact that where the drum has been rubbing in the lip it’s too rough and will always rub through.

Could I not refinish/polish the rough lip?

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint TDL30 front felt seal

In my experience when this fault has been ignored the drum front or the metal duct has worn too thin, you have nothing to lose by trying though. The bottom edge of the drum and duct carry the weight and most wear, not the top.

[conaero]

Re: Hotpoint TDL30 front felt seal

Ok I have polished the drum face and bent the lip back up on the upper duct. What I am also going to do is use some 2.5mm body shop double sided tape round the surface first before applying the felt. Hopefully this should pack out the wear so the drum won’t slop which is why I think it ate through the replacement seal.

I’ll report back in a few weeks to let you know if it worked or it failed.

[Author]

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