Try to fix a 17 year old clothes dryer?

[KBecks]

Yes!  I know I can hang my clothes but we have a family of 5 and I do a LOT of laundry.

Would you try to DIY fix it?  My husband thinks it is the bearings.  Would you call a repair person?  Would you replace?

Thanks!

[Jack]

<insert obligatory "use a clothesline instead" comment here>

[hoping2retire35]

you tube. just fixed one that I am unsure of the age but it is well over 10 years. it was only a $20 belt and maybe 20 minutes work. screw driver necessary. as for diagnostics; maybe noise for a few cycles then stopped spinning.

[HipGnosis]

You're not giving us much to go on here.
What is the dryer doing and/or not doing?
Is it Gas or Electric?   Brand?  Model?
Are you or your husband 'handy' with DIY stuff?  Do you have tools? 
Do you have room to open up the dryer and see what's going on?

Me, I'd definitely try to DIY.  Got nothing to loose.  The price (or availability) of parts would determine if I fix or replace it.  I'd price a used dryer (craigslist, offerup, yellow pages) and wouldn't spend more than half that on parts.

[nereo]

Dryers are pretty simple machines and *most* of the time they are really easy to fix.
Obviously you're going to have to provide a lot more info (like HipGnosis said).

As for being a family of 5 with a LOT of laundry... why do you have so much laundry to do? What's the obstacle preventing you from hang-drying at least a good portion of this?

[BTDretire]

Try to fix it!  I have an electric dryer that's at least 20 years old. I've replaced the belt twice.
Recently the dryer quit heating, I'm electrically inclined so I troubleshot it and found the parts
for $12, I think it was on Ebay.  I also found them for $78 and $50, so shop around.
Also, there are so many helpful videos, make use of them.
 Installation was simple and the dryer is functioning properly.
Now, if I can just get the drain for the washing machine to flow properly.
It's always something!

[retiringearly]

If you can't fix it yourself I wouldn't have it fixed,  I would put the repair money towards replacing it.  A family of 5 puts a lot of wear on dryer over 17 years. 

[LadyMuMu]

I have an ancient dryer and was able to fix it using supplies and instructions from www.partselect.com. I think it came to about $60 total. Way less money than a new dryer and I felt really cool after doing it myself.

[Chris22]

Shouldn't be rocket science to fix BUT if it's a gas dryer and you don't know what you're doing, find someone (neighbor, whatever) who does who can help you turn off the gas  and disconnect the dryer.  That's something you don't want to fuck around with.