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on a combination washer/dryer, there's one metal part called the dryer duct, where water vapor right out of the drum is heated some more before going to cold water bath to condensate.

That vapor apparently carried a lot of soap with it, and after a few years there's almost 0.5Kg of soap there. I took it all apart for cleaning and there's soap under the paint, which is just flaking out.

I'm now removing all the paint and soap. The part is still pretty good. appears to be aluminium. and there's a heater element that goes right in it, so there's no rust showing anywhere.

Should I try to paint it again? with what kind of paint?

I'm guessing that if it didn't rust with all that humid soap under the paint for all those years, that it's mostly cosmetic.

I tried to buy a new one, but it's not made any more.

edit 1:

it was not dry soap after all. it was Al oxide dusty, i think. anyway, it was definitely not dried soap.

i ended up using a drill with a steel wool bit to make the entire part shinny.. removing the dust thing and the old paint. then painted it with a bbq grill enamel spray paint.

I would love to be able to inspect it regularly, but it is a major pain. I sealed the part with high temp silicon glue. also, disassembling the appliance enough to remove/open the part is a 4h job...

I did all that a few days after i posted this question. So it's been working perfectly for 9mo... i guess it worked out fine. I will try to inspect the leaving water for Al oxide dust tho. but not sure how i will do that...

The heating element, which appears to be a sort of steel aloy has no rust signs. The two screws hold it inside appear to be another Al alloy from the color (i'm no expert on metals) and are fine. I'm guessing the Al alloy used for the part was not up to spec for the temp changes and chemicals involved in the washer/dryer combination expected use. Typical LG cost cutting :(

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I don't know much about combination washer / dryers, but are you sure you've identified the problem correctly? Why would there be so much soap residue in the dryer exhaust. I don't recall ever seeing any soap residue on a dryer. And why is there a heating element in the on the exhaust side of dryer?

To answer your question, though: if this part is subject to high heat, which it sounds like it is, I would use an oil paint designed for radiators, or some high-temperature Rustoleum.

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  • yeah, it's a weird design on those combination w/d. they extract the water/moisty air from the top, heat it, and then blow that steam with cold water (or in better models, trhu a cold radiator) to condensate and remove the water from that air. My concern about most high-temp paints is that they are not safe for skin... so i'm not sure now how wise it is to heat it up and have it's fumes go around my clothes :) i'm trying to find a silicone based ones that i found online, but having a hard time actually buying them...
    – gcb
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 16:51
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First I would not paint it unless you start noticing a little rust. Better to give it an inspection every once in a while. If you do paint it, I would go with an automotive engine enamel. (it requires a long dry time)

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  • Turned out, the thing i assumed was dry soap under the old paint, was full blown Al 'rust'... i assume it was aluminum oxide dust... maybe the previous owner used to much chlorinated products? whatever the reason was, i had to remove the part, scrub it with steel wool until shiny, let it out for the good Al-oxide layer to form, and then painted with enamel paint as you suggest. I didn't use engine type because a friend already had a can of bbq grill enamel paint at hand.. i guess they are the same but one has a pic of an engine on the can the other of a bbq grill. :)
    – gcb
    Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 21:57

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