The short answer
A new noise from an AEG DHP dryer is a worn support part nine times out of ten, and the drum tells you which one by how it turns. A dryer drum is carried on rollers or glides, driven by a belt, and turned by a motor with a blower on the same shaft. There are only four things in there that can make a noise, and each makes a different one. The table below lists one model for this family, so there is no second configuration to rule out before you begin.
What the sound does
- One thump per drum revolution, perfectly regular — A flat spot on a roller, or a damaged section of belt going over a pulley.
- A squeal at the start that eases as the cabinet warms — Stiff grease thinning with heat, which is a part at the end of its life.
- A rattle with no pattern to it — Pocket contents, or something that has fallen into the blower housing.
- A scrape that worsens with a heavy load — The drum running out of true and touching the bulkhead or the front seal.
- NEAR MISS — a hum with no drum movement at all — A broken belt or a seized motor; the will-not-start page for this family covers it.
What is making it, most likely first on the DHP line
- Rollers, glides and the rear bearing — They carry the entire drum through every hour the machine has run, so they are the highest-wear items in the cabinet and they produce the thump and squeal that bring most owners here. On the DHP family this holds without qualification, because the family covers one configuration rather than a spread of them.
- Loose objects in the blower housing or lint path — Coins and buttons drop through the filter slot and land in the blower, where they rattle on every revolution and stop the instant the blower does.
- The blower wheel cracked or loose — A cracked wheel rattles under airflow and is loudest once the machine is hot — a temperature pattern nothing else on this list produces.
- The machine unlevel, or the exhaust duct drumming — The cheapest cause and the easiest to overlook: an unsupported duct beats against a wall and sounds exactly like a fault inside the cabinet.
The order to work through on these models
- Isolate the machine and turn the drum by hand, feeling for roughness or a flat spot — Identifies the commonest cause with nothing but a hand on the drum.
- Empty the lint filter housing and look into the slot with a torch — Free, and an object here is seen rather than deduced.
- Note whether the sound only appears once the machine is running hot — The temperature signature is the only thing that isolates it.
Models in the DHP family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| DHP240 | aeg:dryer:dhp |
Isolate it first
Safety
Isolate the machine at its breaker, or draw the plug, before any panel is disturbed — stored charge can remain in a capacitor once the supply is gone. Give the cabinet time to cool: drum skin, heater housing and duct all stay hot well past the end of a programme. The door switch stays exactly as the factory wired it, since it removes power from heater and motor the instant the door opens. A dryer must never be run venting into the room, nor with its duct damaged. On a gas machine, a smell of gas means touching no switch at all: leave the building, then call the gas utility from outside.
When to call a technician
Call a technician once the lint path, the levelling and the duct are ruled out, because rollers, belts and blower wheels all need the cabinet opened and the drum supported. Call without waiting if the noise comes with a burning smell, if the drum will not turn freely by hand, or if the machine is stopping partway through a cycle — a seizing bearing and a restricted exhaust both put heat where it should not be.
Other problems covered for this family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
