A-1 Appliance Parts Blog

Samsung dryer replacement elements have gotten expensive but there are alternatives that cost a lot less.  If you need JUST the element (not the whole housing along with the thermostats), you can buy part # DC47-00019A and if you want the entire assembly, DC97-14486A replaces the higher priced Samsung version.

 

These elements represent an oddity that we hope will grow more common in time- the elements that come from S. Korea actually cost more than the aftermarket versions made in the USA!  There are also Chinese versions that cost less as well… for now.

Almost all the Samsung dryers we know of use the DC47-00019A element. If you need the element along with the thermostats, you might as well get the complete element kit.

 

 

These elements have been going out at a rapid rate. We’re not sure if that comes from a design flaw or if there are just that many Samsung dryers in the market now.

Frigidaire (owned by the Swedish company Electrolux) recently strong-armed her distributors into pulling the parts back from Amazon which is, I’m sure, an attempt to control pricing. One big example of this is the popular bake element 316075104 which has been selling for much less than Electrolux’s published retail price of $41.35 (as of 4/11/18).

To add further confusion, there are multiple listings of this element and replacements for this element for sale from a wide variety of companies. We sell a generic replacement for the 316075104 there (only when clearly marked as an aftermarket replacement element… with the same calrod quality as the original element btw) and Frigidaire has even demanded that those listings be taken down.  I would want them down too if I were them!  It seems this is one bully trying to throw it’s weight against completely different companies!

The aftermarket parts industry for Whirlpool, Maytag, Frigidaire, Electrolux, Samsung, and LG replacement parts is an important source of competition that people can rely on to keep these particular manufacturers from over-inflating part prices. In fact, there is a growing list of parts that Whirlpool/Maytag has made obsolete that have been picked up by companies like ERP.

The effects of a company like Whirlpool controlling the market can be seen in their replacement oven controls.  If you have to replace an electronic oven control (main oven control board), get ready to sit down because many of them now cost between $300 and $600 depending on your model. They also include a $60 core charge – which we believe Whirlpool enforces to keep those old controls out of the hands of companies like CoreCentric who would re-manufacture them and offer them back to the market at a much lower price.  Core charges are another way to try controlling prices for parts in the market place. Of course, Whirlpool will claim they collect cores for other reasons but it is odd that prices started sky rocketing just before the core collection program went in force.  We still have a few re-manufactured electronic controls but they are getting harder and harder to find now. Shocker.

The Trump administration announced higher tarrifs on washing machine imports a few days ago. Companies like Samsung & LG will be hit immediately but soon they will both be making product in the US anyway.  The biggest impact, though, could be with Haier (remember? the Chinese company that bought GE Appliances) causing them to do… nothing new.

Haier will be encouraged to keep GE production in the US and maintain had running when they first took over.  In fact, it’s been business as usual since the Haier purchase in June of 2016.  And now with their immediate price leverage, Haier could see washer sales spike by doing… nothing new.

Ultimately high tarrifs on imports cause all prices to raise (or stabilize) but this is the price of keeping jobs in America.

The news hit today that Sears would stop selling Whirlpool branded products because they couldn’t be competitive with other brands.  My guess is that Whirlpool wouldn’t cut pricing enough for sears (or wouldn’t be lenient with payment terms).  At any rate, immediately after this announcement we got news from Sears that Whirlpool would still be making some Kenmore and Coldspot branded products (along with Frigidaire, GE, LG and Samsung).

Sears isn’t the only one having difficulty with Whirlpool pricing however… on the Whirlpool appliance parts side distributors are finding it increasingly hard to explain why parts with Whirlpool’s logo on the packaging cost so much more than aftermarket parts of similar quality. This also goes for Frigidaire, LG and Samsung.

The truth is, when you buy a Kenmore brand product, you can’t really be sure who made it! And, more and more, even when you do know who made it you can’t be sure where the parts for it came from!  We are finding some aftermarket replacement items come from the same factory in China as the oem and, even more, some generic parts are even built better while costing less!

So if the warranty is the same, as it is for every aftermarket part A-1 Appliance Parts sells, and the quality difference is negligible (if we run into quality issues with a generic item, we don’t continue to offer it- that’s just a headache for everyone), it only makes sense to pay less!

See if your parts are available in quality aftermarket versions like ERP, Supco, and Napco at A-1 Appliance Parts. A-1 generic appliance parts