Spent 11 hours over 3 weekends trying to fix a dryer that just needed a $9 part
Our dryer stopped heating back in early March and I was sure it was the heating element, so I ordered one for $40 and swapped it out. When that did not work I replaced the thermal fuse, then the thermostat, then watched six YouTube videos about the control board. After 11 hours spread across three weekends my wife finally said to just call the repair guy, and he found a clogged vent hose that was tripping the safety switch, charged me $9 for the part plus his $75 visit. I keep telling myself I learned something about checking the cheap stuff first, but honestly I mostly just feel dumb. Has anyone else gone down a parts swapping rabbit hole when the real problem was something simple like a blocked vent?