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It’s never a good sign when your Amana dryer won’t spin, even though it turns on normally. Thankfully, the humming sound you hear gives us a few hints as to what the root cause might be. The humming comes from the drive motor. Let’s fix it.
When your Amana dryer has both symptoms of not spinning but producing a humming noise, it’s likely the drive belt slipped off. The blower wheel could be obstructed, or the rollers and bearings have worn out. The humming noise you hear comes from the drive motor trying to turn, so it’s also possible the motor isn’t functioning correctly.
You don’t need too much time to troubleshoot your Amana dryer. Read this guide to quickly understand the possible causes and how you can fix them.
My Amana Dryer won’t spin, but hums -4 causes
Here are the most likely reasons your dryer is humming but not spinning and the solutions you can use to get the machine working again:
1. Drive Belt Slipped Off – amana dryer won’t spin
About this part: The drive belt in your Amana dryer is responsible for spinning the drum. Besides wrapping around the drum, the belt also wraps around pulleys and the motor wheel.
By wrapping around all those parts, the belt acts as a way for the motor to transfer energy to the drum.
The motor turns the belt, and the belt turns the drum causing it to spin.
When it fails: The drive belt is kept under constant tension to ensure it can grip all the parts it wraps around (mentioned above). That way, the belt can turn those parts and transfer energy as it should.
Unfortunately, that tension can cause a misaligned belt to slip off quite quickly. When that happens, the motor will hum, but the drum won’t spin because the belt is no longer wrapped around it.
Solution: Thankfully, this problem has a straightforward solution that doesn’t involve replacing parts. You’ll have to wrap the drive belt around the drum, motor, and pulleys correctly.
Doing that restores the dryer’s ability to spin.
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Read: How To Fix Amana Dryer Squeaking Noise? – Troubleshooting Guide
2. Obstructed Blower Wheel
About this part: The drive belt mentioned earlier wraps around one side of the dryer motor. On the other side, the motor connects directly to the blower wheel.
The blower wheel spins at high speeds to drive air through the dryer. That air is then heated to dry your clothes as it passes through the machine.
You can find the blower wheel on the back of your Amana dryer, where you see an air intake in the rear panel.
When it fails: The blower wheel is somewhat exposed because of the air intake. That exposure is necessary so it can pull air from behind the dryer to blow through the machine. Amana dryer won’t spin.
Unfortunately, foreign objects can find their way through those openings and obstruct the blower wheel. Any obstruction of that kind will prevent the blower wheel from spinning.
When the blower fan is obstructed, the drum will also fail to spin, and the motor will make a humming noise.
The obstructed wheel connects directly to the motor shaft and prevents it from turning the drum at the same time.
Solution: You can solve this problem by removing everything obstructing the blower wheel. Then, you must inspect the wheel for any damage. Unfortunately, broken blower wheel fins can lead to other problems later, so you’ll have to replace the whole wheel as soon as possible.
When you restore unobstructed movement to the blower wheel, the dryer motor can turn the drum and make it spin normally again.
Read: Why Amana Dryer Not Turning ON Or Not Spinning? – Troubleshooting Guide
3. Worn Out Bearings Or Rollers
About this part: The drum inside your Amana dryer will spin at various speeds throughout a drying cycle. Under normal circumstances, that spinning motion can lead to noises and erratic movements from the drum.
Thankfully, Amana dryers are equipped with drum bearings and support rollers. These components ensure that the drum can spin in perfect balance even at high speeds. Simultaneously, they eliminate noise and reduce friction which lightens the dryer motor’s burden when turning the drum.
When they fail: Dryer bearings and rollers continuously turn along with the drum. So, they experience plenty of wear after several years of use.
Worn-out bearings and rollers will struggle to turn smoothly, placing a heavier burden on the dryer motor.
If that wear becomes severe, the bearings and rollers will seize completely, unable to move.
The motor will produce a loud hum as it tries to spin the drum, which will not turn because its worn-out bearings and rollers prevent it from doing so.
Solution: Dryer bearings and rollers are components you must replace when they wear out. You can’t recondition or lubricate them to move normally once they reach this point.
So, remove the existing components and install new ones in their place.
Even if only some of the rollers are worn out, it’s best to replace them simultaneously to maximize your dryer’s performance.
Read: Why Amana Dryer Won’t Start Just Clicks – Troubleshooting Guide
4. Faulty Drive Motor
About this part: The drive motor is the heart of your Amana dryer. It generates power to spin the drum and turn other components like the blower wheel you read about earlier.
The drive motor is electrical, which means that it produces very little sound when it works correctly.
Drive motors can last a very long time, up to a decade or more. However, defective motors and those that are continually overloaded can wear out much sooner.
When it fails: As you’ve seen so far, the humming noise you hear mostly comes from the Amana dryer’s drive motor. Once you rule out all the other causes listed above, you must consider that the motor is the root cause.
A worn-out motor will hum when you turn it on but fail to turn. That will lead to a chain reaction of failing to turn the drive belt, which means the drum will not spin.
Solution: It’s impractical to repair a faulty drive motor. You can get it replaced if your Amana dryer is still under warranty, or you can buy a new one yourself.
However, if your dryer is over 10 years old, you should consider upgrading to a newer model.
It might be worth your money to invest in a newer Amana dryer model instead of fixing the one you have.
Read: How To Fix Amana Dryer Not Heating Or Not Drying? – Troubleshooting Guide
Additional Questions And Answers
These extra questions and answers will help as you troubleshoot your Amana dryer:
Why Is My Amana Dryer Still Spinning When I Open The Door?
Your Amana dryer will continue spinning with an open door if the door switch is faulty. Under normal conditions, the switch should pause the machine when you open the door mid-cycle. A defective door switch is dangerous, so replace it immediately.
Where Is The Heating Element On An Amana Dryer?
The heating element is towards the rear of your Amana dryer. You’ll have to remove the rear panel to access the heating element and perform any inspects or repairs on it.
Why Did My Amana Dryer Just Stop In The Middle Of Drying And Now Won’t Start?
Your Amana dryer will stop mid-cycle and fail to resume if the thermal fuse has been triggered. The thermal cutoff is triggered as a protective measure when the dryer begins overheating. Doing so prevents the machine from damaging itself and reduces your fire risk.
Read: Why Amana Dryer Getting Hot But Not Drying Clothes – Troubleshooting Guide
How Do You Change The Roller On An Amana Dryer?
Replacing the roller is incredibly straightforward and will only take seconds. Unfortunately, the time-consuming task is to access the dryer. First, you’ll have to remove the dryer panels and take out the drum. Doing that will give you access to the rollers.
Where Is The Amana Dryer Blower Wheel Located?
The blower wheel is located towards the rear of your Amana dryer. It’s located behind the air intake vents that you can quickly spot on the dryer’s back panel.
Search our site for issues with your Amana washer, too. Read Why Amana Washer stuck on Final spin?
