Keep Your Dryer Quiet by kelseymh
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Here is a larger-scale variation on my Silence Of The Toys. We own a 10+ year old GE Profile clothes dryer, with an extraordinarily loud buzzer. We also have a six month old daughter who takes two or three naps throughout the day, every couple of hours. This is a bad combination.

I could have just gone in and cut the lead to the buzzer, but I wanted to have control over whether the buzzer goes off or not, without needing a screwdriver and several minutes to change things.
 
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Step 1: Tools and Materials Needed

To install a mute switch, you need a switch. I chose a simple white wall light-switch (69 cents at Ace Hardware), but you could use whatever you have at hand. You will need two #4 lock washers, and #4-40 hex nuts to secure the switch to the control panel.

A few of feet of 18-gauge or larger wire will connect the switch to the buzzer (the wire runs are longer than you'd think). An old lamp or extension cord is most convenient, since the two conductors are already joined.

For the wire ends that connect to the buzzer, you will need one male and one female crimp-on spade lug. A true male spade is hard to find, but the U-shaped screw lugs fit perfectly in the female crimp-on.

Our GE Profile uses T20 Torx screws, so I got to go buy a set of Torx bits to remove the control panel from the dryer.

To cut out a hole in the control panel to fit the switch, I used a Dremel tool with metal-cutting disks (and a 1/8" drill bit for the screw holes). If you own a pair, you could also use sheet-metal nippers to make cleaner edges.
Senseless says: Feb 25, 2010. 7:28 AM
Good idea but I was thinking a simple toggle switch might be easier for the average person since they'd just need a drill.
kelseymh (author) says: Feb 25, 2010. 12:50 PM
If you use just a toggle switch, then you need to make sure you get one rated for 110VAC (i.e., do not use a little Radio Shack jobbie).  I chose a wall switch for three reasons
  • It's rated for full wall voltage and current
  • I had a spare one lying around
  • It blends in better with the white dryer
One of the cool things about these I'bles is that you can almost always modify them for your own situation or desire.  Thanks much for the comment!
lemonie says: Feb 9, 2009. 3:51 PM
Forgive me if I missed something here, but does the buzzer tell you that the drying cycle has finished? I was hoping this "Keep Your Dryer Quiet" might be of use to me, as my machine makes a lot of noise from simply running (I know when it's finished, because I can't hear it...). I've taken that apart several times, - e.g. bypassing the switch that turns it off when you open the door so you can dry hair in it - and re-stringing the drive-belt is a total, total - well it isn't fun at all. L
Yerboogieman says: Jul 14, 2009. 10:52 PM
I have that same problem, it's not Really loud, but i can hear it.
kelseymh (author) says: Feb 9, 2009. 5:08 PM
I probably should have said that -- yes, this is the end-of-cycle buzzer. On our dryer, it's so loud that it's the only thing in the house that wakes our daughter from her naps or even from regular bedtime. Not even the phone does that!

Your solution of "it's done when it's quiet" would work, except ours is in an enclosed room that actually does a good job of muffling (which tells you how loud the d**ned* buzzer really is!). I just try to remember to go and check after a couple of hours.
NachoMahma says: Oct 29, 2008. 12:14 PM
. Great iBle. I especially like the attention paid to safety. . Using a fork lug in a female spade is not optimum, but does work and is safe if one is careful. . . PhilB's 3-way switch is a good idea, too.
kelseymh (author) says: Oct 29, 2008. 1:02 PM
The use of the fork lug was a bit of cheating on my part. I got everything for free from the components bins in my lab at work. We didn't have any of the real male crimp-on spades, just the fork lugs.

I try to address safety issues where appropriate in all of my I'bles. Even before we had a newborn in the house, I took "real" safety issues (voltages, sharpies, earthquakes) seriously.

One of my responsibilities here at work is (was) safety during accesses to the BaBar drift chamber electronics, inside a permit-required confined space (see the image below, where I'm in the space without the 3-1/2 foot diameter magnet systems installed, and the PDF procedures writeup).

I'm also on SLAC's radiation safety committee, which reviews all accelerator-related projects before they can be approved.
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Lithium Rain says: Nov 4, 2008. 6:49 PM
I love Sharpies, I use them all the time-are they very dangerous? Am I engaging in a potentially fatal activity when I write with them? Do I need to make them safer somehow?? !

I had no idea I'd been putting myself and others in harms way. :(

I'm putting all my sharpies away until I know...in a hermetically sealed 50 gallon steel drum buried 100 feet underground and at least 300 yards away from all water sources.
kelseymh (author) says: Nov 4, 2008. 7:03 PM
Hee, hee, hee :-) "Sharpies", in my parenthetical above, really meant pointy things (no, not the top of my head!). You've heard of "sharps containers" in doctors' offices for disposing of needles, scalpel blades, etc.?

I think if you just wrap your Sharpies in 1/16" lead sheets, and avoid staring directly into the felt tips, you'll be fine ;-)
Lithium Rain says: Nov 4, 2008. 7:11 PM
Heh, I figured that, just couldn't resist the comment...(conehead! :D) I have another question, what about "shoupies"? These are offbrand chinese knockoffs I got in a dollar store in Oklahoma (really and truly, not making it up)-are they as dangerous as the brand name ones? And are they safe to lick? They smell really good (they really do. I wish I could eat them!)...
kelseymh (author) says: Nov 4, 2008. 7:25 PM
You mean 'Shou Pie'? I think that means "thin line" in Mandarin (I am not making this up :-)

They're much more dangerous than the American ones -- weren't they found to have radioactive melamine in the ink? Thousands of cartoon animals got sick after being drawn with Shou Pie in outsourced animation factories!
NachoMahma says: Nov 4, 2008. 7:51 PM
. She may have meant Shoo-fly pie. heehee
Lithium Rain says: Nov 4, 2008. 7:45 PM
Heh-it could also mean "spoon cast away" or about a jillion other things depending on the intonation... Here's a picture of somebody else's shoupies-I got MORE shoupies for my money. Although they are all strange colors. Oh dear! I will have to throw out my shoupies...
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kelseymh (author) says: Nov 4, 2008. 7:49 PM
G*d, that's just hilarious. I am always amazed at just how brazen the knock-offs are in copying as many little details as possible of well-known brands (except for actual quality, of course). The "Gucci" purses sold by street vendors from Beijing to Rome to New York come to mind.
Plasmana says: Oct 29, 2008. 3:38 PM
That reminds me of that dryer my family used to have a few years ago, it make a horrible buzzing noise and it often gets me... Never disassembled the buzzer from the dryer, but good instructable though.
kelseymh (author) says: Oct 29, 2008. 5:20 PM
Well, if your parents will let you hack it, you could try implementing this fix. You're clearly competent with the tools and safety procedures needed to work on 110V equipment. Even if yours is a different model or brand, the general layout should be similar. Good luck!
Plasmana says: Oct 30, 2008. 3:31 AM
lol, the dryer is already gone...
emellqui says: Oct 24, 2008. 9:18 AM
Haha! I have this same dryer, and you aren't kidding that the buzzer is loud. After putting up with the noise for 4 years, I finally disconnected the wire for the buzzer last month. I just pulled the wire and put some electrical tape around the end. It's not a fancy switch, but I can't imagine ever wanting to hear that buzzer again.
Goodhart says: Oct 23, 2008. 8:42 PM
Hmm, yes you know you could also just add a resistor and a Neon bulb rather then a regular light bulb. This would save a lot of wasted electricity in case it wasn't seen for awhile. Very nice instructable, and great detail.
kelseymh (author) says: Oct 23, 2008. 9:08 PM
Thanks for the compliment! Without the detail, it might as well be a slideshow...
Phil B says: Oct 23, 2008. 7:06 PM
In our house I or my wife would forget to flip the switch back again and would miss the dryer's notification to us when we wanted or needed it. If you used a 3-way switch, you could add a light bulb to the other output leg. Your dryer would warn you with either a buzzer or a bulb. Still, you get lots of credit for ingenuity.
kelseymh (author) says: Oct 23, 2008. 7:26 PM
Very nice option, Phil; thanks!

In our first house, the W/D were out in the garage; now, they're in a closet in the kitchen behind a pair of closed bifold doors. Either way, the light-bulb idea wouldn't be great for us.

However, having said that...your design is an excellent example of assistive technology --- a dryer notification for the deaf or hard of hearing.
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