There was a time when an electric clothes dryer was a luxury… When no one really needed the fancy fabric ovens except for people who had more money than they had sense! Clothes lines were cheap and solar energy was falling out of the sky. Now, however, it seems we look at clothes dryers as a necessity.
Even though manufacturers have kept the cost of a dryer low (accounting for cost-of-living increases, inflation, and the devaluation of our currency as the government prints more money… ugh!). But while the appliance may be a bargain, when you need a part for it some of the manufacturers think it’s time to cash in!
At the time of this writing, for example, the most common Samsung dryer element DC97-14486A sells for over $200!! Just the inside part, DC47-00019A, without the housing and thermostats is $80. $200 for a dryer element. Really? There are alternatives though. A US company (Supco) is making replacement elements for Samsung at a fraction of the cost. You can take a look here: DC97-14486A and DC47-00019A. They even make a re-string kit (just the wire) because that’s all you really need usually: DC4700019AC
And Samsung isn’t the only manufacturer that they make replacement elements for. You can see them listed out here for Frigidaire / Electrolux, Whirlpool, LG, Samsung, etc. along side the original manufacturer’s versions.
LG’s most common element, 5301EL1001H, is over $200… The Supco version of this is less than half that price (5301EL1001). How can this be? I know the cost of production can’t be higher for these South Korean companies… Maybe the transportation cost affects them?
At any rate, if you have your model number you can see all the options available at A-1Appliance.com (just be sure to put the model # in the model # search field and not the part # search field). And click on the element once you see it to get to it’s specific page where there will be notes on it and associated parts linked.