Samsung Dryer Burning Smell and a Motor That Won’t Run
The burning smell on this Samsung dryer in Huntington Beach came from lint that had built up inside the machine and caught fire. The heat deformed the blower and left the motor unable to turn. Replacing the fan motor assembly, part number DC93-00101N, which carries the blower and the motor together, put the dryer back in service.
What causes a Samsung dryer burning smell?
Burnt lint, most of the time. The customer on this call described it as two problems arriving together: the motor wasn’t working, and there was a burning smell coming off the machine. That pairing sends me straight into the blower area, because the smell has to be coming from something that got hot enough to scorch, and the motor sits right next to the part that moves the hot air.
The machine was a Samsung DV405ETPAWR/AA01. When I opened it up, the lint that had collected inside over years of use had burned.
How does lint burning inside a dryer kill the motor?
The heat goes into the blower first. The blower wheel sits in the airflow path directly downstream of the drum, so a lint fire in that area puts sustained heat on it, and the wheel loses its shape. Once it is deformed, it no longer spins free in its housing. On this dryer the damage carried straight through to the motor, which was done.
That is why a Samsung dryer burning smell is not something to work around by running shorter cycles. The material that produced the smell is still sitting inside the cabinet.
Why replace the whole fan motor assembly?
Because the blower and the motor come as one unit. The part I installed is listed as Assy Fan Motor, PN DC93-00101N, and it arrives with both pieces together. On this job that matched what I found, since both had been damaged by the same event. There was nothing to salvage on either side of it.
After the assembly went in, the dryer ran correctly.
How does lint get inside the dryer cabinet at all?
Some of it gets past the lint filter on every load. The filter catches the bulk of what comes off the clothes, but fine fibers ride the airflow through and settle in the ducting and around the blower housing, where nothing removes them. Over enough loads that layer builds up, and it sits in the part of the machine that carries the hottest air.
FAQ
Is it safe to keep using a dryer that smells like burning?
No. Stop the cycle, unplug the dryer, and leave it off. A burning smell means something inside the cabinet is reaching a temperature it was never meant to reach, and continuing to run the machine keeps feeding air across it. Opening a dryer to find the source is work for a technician, since the interior includes line voltage components and, on gas models, a gas connection.
How often should a dryer be cleaned out to prevent this?
At least once every five years, and more often depending on how much you run it. A household doing a couple of loads a week is on a different schedule than one drying every day. That cleaning means the interior ducting and blower area, not just emptying the lint filter, which you should be doing every cycle regardless.
What does the fan motor assembly do in a dryer?
The motor spins the blower wheel, and the blower wheel pulls air through the drum and pushes it out the vent. Without that airflow, the heat has nowhere to go and the clothes have nothing carrying moisture away from them. It is also the assembly that lint damage tends to reach first, since it sits in the path everything travels through.
Need this looked at?
If your Samsung dryer has a burning smell or the motor won’t run, unplug it and give us a call. We carry common Samsung parts, including fan motor assemblies, and can diagnose and replace on the same visit.
