Also on the truck · Fox Island
The rest of the lineup
$99 to meter it, one figure on the ticket, coverage printed on the invoice — identical for every machine in Fox Island.
You arrive on Friday night and the dryer runs cold, or the caretaker texts that it takes three cycles.
Weekdays 8–6 · Saturday 9–3 · closed Sunday · truck based on 4425 Harbor Country Dr NW
$99 to meter it, one figure on the ticket, coverage printed on the invoice — identical for every machine in Fox Island.
A good many Fox Island dryers belong to people who are not on the island when the dryer fails. The house on Hale Passage or above Carr Inlet is used in summer and on long holidays, the owner lives in Seattle or Tacoma, and the first report of a cold dryer comes from a guest or a caretaker. We built the Fox Island visit around that: a gate code or lockbox for access, a photo of the failed part by text, one written price you can approve from any city, and paperwork with the warranty sent to your inbox. The truck comes over the Fox Island Bridge from the Gig Harbor shop with the parts for your model aboard.
Fuel is the other island fact. There is no natural gas on Fox Island, so a gas dryer runs on propane from the tank behind the house, and a dryer delivered without the propane conversion burns rich, soots its burner and trips its flame sensor within a season. Electric dryers are the majority in the newer view homes along Fox Island Blvd and Island Blvd. Both kinds fight the same enemy: island air that stays damp from October to May and a vent that runs through a crawlspace to a cap facing the water. Lint turns to paste, airflow falls, the thermal fuse lets go, and a load of towels finishes cold.
Electric: thermal fuse, element or a dead leg of the 240-volt supply. Propane: the igniter, the flame sensor, the coils on the gas valve, or a burner fouled from running unconverted. Each gets metered in turn; whichever reads open is replaced, and airflow is measured so the fuse is not lost a second time.
Restricted airflow: lint paste in the crawlspace duct, a flex hose crushed against the wall or a cap corroded shut by salt air. Airflow gets measured at the exhaust, the reachable duct is cleared, and if the run itself needs a specialist we say so.
The dryer is burning propane through a natural-gas orifice or with the regulator never switched. We confirm the fuel, fit the correct orifice, set the regulator for propane and watch the burner through a full cycle for a clean blue flame.
Rollers worn flat, a split glide, a dry idler bearing or a fraying belt. We turn the drum by hand with the front off, find the noise and change the worn pieces as a set, so the fix outlasts a single summer.
A snapped belt, a motor that has seized or a door switch that reads open. A broken belt on many models also trips a switch that stops the motor. We check belt and switch first, then meter the motor windings.
Moisture-sensor bars filmed with dryer-sheet residue, a thermistor drifted out of range or a surge that took a relay off the board. We clean and test the bars, meter the thermistor and quote the board only when it is the actual fault.
At the wall we confirm the supply: both legs of 240 volts on an electric dryer, or propane pressure and the regulator on a gas one. The front comes off and the meter works down the heat circuit, starting at the thermal fuse, moving to the high-limit, then the cycling thermostat, then the element (on propane, the igniter with its flame sensor), until one reads open. Rollers, glides, belt and idler are checked by hand with the drum out. The exhaust gets an airflow reading and the duct is cleared as far as an arm and a brush go, because a dryer in damp island air with a choked vent will blow its fuse again by Thanksgiving. Then the part gets a plain name, a photo and a single written price.
Whirlpool, Maytag, GE, LG, Samsung, Kenmore and Speed Queen make up most Fox Island dryers, with Miele and Bosch compacts in some of the newer homes. Off-island owners approve by text and get their paperwork electronically; for full-time residents who commute to Tacoma General or St. Anthony we hold early and late windows. The price rule crosses the bridge unchanged. The diagnosis is $99, a sum that becomes one piece of the written figure the moment you approve; choose not to proceed and the $99 stands as the whole charge. Every price comes after the meter has done its work, and every one is in writing.
Yes, that is most of our Fox Island dryer work. We use the gate code or lockbox you give us, diagnose the dryer, text you a photo of the failed part with one written price, and repair on your text approval. The invoice, with the warranty written on it, reaches your inbox, and the laundry room is left tidy.
It should not be run until it is corrected. A yellow, sooty flame usually means the dryer is burning propane through natural-gas orifices or with an unconverted regulator. We fit the correct orifice, set the regulator and watch for a clean blue flame across a complete cycle before packing up.
No. Fox Island is a routine run from our Gig Harbor shop and there is no mileage fee, island charge or travel line on any invoice. A dryer on Island Blvd is priced from the same card as a dryer on Harborview Dr in Gig Harbor.
Damp air and salt. A vent that runs through a crawlspace never dries between loads from October to May, so lint sticks instead of blowing clear, and a cap facing Hale Passage corrodes until its flap sticks. Each visit includes an airflow reading, and we clear whatever length of duct a brush will reach from the machine end.
Inside the week, and often on the following business day, Monday to Saturday. Give us the brand, model and whether it is propane or electric when you call so the fuse, element or igniter is aboard when we cross the bridge. A part on order returns on our schedule, not your bill.
Phone or form, either way a dispatcher sends a two-hour window and a text the moment the truck rolls — from Harbor Country Drive, or off the bridge deck for Tacoma stops.
Clamp meter, thermometer, manometer where propane is involved. The failed component is identified and explained, and one figure goes on paper with the $99 built into it.
The truck carries what salt air, iron water and outages break: fill valves, defrost heaters, igniters, rollers, relays. Anything ordered comes back on our schedule, not your bill.
A complete run of the machine while you watch, the floor and panels put back as found, and the warranty term printed on the invoice.
$99 gets the meter on it, the figure goes on the ticket, the part is usually already on board, and the coverage term is printed on the invoice. Same card on both shores of the Narrows.
