Many dryers use rubber rollers to turn the drum. They are probably what you are smelling - fresh rubber. These can also be the cause of the bumping sound you may hear when the dryer is new. When the dryer sits in the warehouse the rollers flatten out. By running a hot cycle with no clothes the rollers become round again and the smell will go away.

My installer ran a 45 min. hot cycle right after he finished the install and all has been well since. No smell, no noise.

Thanks for your tips. After running a few empty loads on high and doing four loads of towels, the rubber smell wore off. I did wipe the inside of the machine and the door with my all purpose cleaner a few times, and this morning before I started doing laundry I wiped the gasket down with Oxyclean. Now I just have to get used to timing loads with my new dryer. The dry times seem a bit longer, but opening the door during a cycle I can tell that the temps are much lower than in my old machine. Running the old machine on high, if I took out a towel before the cool down cycle started it was almost hot enough to burn your hand, not with this machine. High on the Duet feels close to low on my old Kenmore, but I guess it will be much gentler on my cloths! I do like how quiet this dryer is, and the sensor works much better than on the old Kenmore. Set at normal for the wetness sensor, the cloths came out almost completely dry, in my old Kenmore, set on more dry the heavier items often came out damp.

jcrowley99,
it is correct that most new dryers don't get as hot as the old ones. I really like that as things that I washed on warm or cold used to shrink or get out of shape in the dryer. Now, I can use the normal heat even on items that can't stand a lot of heat.

Why did you get the Duet dryer and not the matching Cabrio? Isn't the dryer overloaded if you put a full load of laundry in? I had the Cabrio dryer for a few days because Lowe's messed up the delivery of my Bosch dryer. I liked the large capacity, but it was quite a bit noisier and didn't dry the clothes much faster either. The Duet dryer is probably more like the Bosch and I am glad you like it.

Hi Looser! Sorry, it's been a busy week!

The Cabrio dryer and the Duet 9200 (not the Sport) both are 7.0 cubic foot capacity. I got the Duet dryer because I refused to get a dryer with a top lint filter. I used one for 3 years when living in a apartment over my in-laws, and I hated trying to clean it, lint would fly everywhere. My family (myself included til I got the Cabrio in March) has always owned Kenmores. The Kenmore dryers had front lint filters (by the door) and they are much easier to clean, and easy to take off the front panel to get out any lint that might bypass the filter. So that is why I have a Cabrio washer and a Duet dryer. I really like the Duet dryer, it is very quiet, easy to use, and really does not take that much longer to dry than my old Kenmore. It does, however, dry better. The sensor dry on the Duet actually leaves cloths dry when set at normal, the Kenmore left thicker items damp even when set to more dry. Only time will tell how happy I will be with the Duet, but my initial reaction is I made the right choice.

So do you have a new Bosch set? What did you get? I started with the Bosch 500 and switched to the Cabrio, my floor is "flexible" (that is what they told me) so I can't use a front loader. I love my Cabrio washer, but could not get past the filter with the dryer - plus I have read that it is rather loud. Something you just mentioned! Since my laundry room shares a wall with my kitchen and dining room I like to keep things quiet if possible.

Hi jcrowley99,
I got the Nexxt 500 plus set about six weeks ago and I am very happy with it! The washer cleans very well and is nice and quiet. It is in our kitchen (over the concrete slab), so it was important to have quiet appliances. The only time the washer gets a little loud is when a load with heavy items gets seriously unbalanced. The dryer is definitely quieter than the Cabrio dryer. I wasn't too impressed with the Cabrio dryer. IMO it is kind of ugly, relatively loud and it left a few items damp on the normal setting. Sounds as if the Duet dryer really is a better pick. I prefer the door lint filter as well.

Does the 7.0 cuft capacity seem appropriate for the 4.5 cuft washer? Do you have any problems (wrinkles or really long drying times) when doing large loads?

Hi Looser!

The dryer capacity seems just fine for the washer. There is a lot of room in the dryer when I take the cloths out after they are dried so they obviously have plenty of room to move during tumbling. They cloths come out very nice. Some of the loads I did today finished drying (used casual auto cycle normal wetness level which is low heat approx. time of 35 minutes) before the next load was done in the washer (delicate cycle, heavy soil level, slow spin, approx. time of 42 minutes). So I would say it is pretty efficient. When I do my first full load of heavy cotton towels on Tuesday I'll be able to get a better feel for how fast or slow it is, most of my other loads are too variable from week to week this time of year to make a fair comparison. I'm glad you like your Boschs, I thought the Nexxt 500 washer was rather loud, especially when going into the spin - sometimes it sounded like it was trying to take off! That could have been from my floor, or maybe they improved that in this model! And yes, the Cabrios are not the prettiest machines out there, but watching the washer handle my king size comforter with no problems is definitely a thing of beauty!

Well, I finally got around to doing laundry yesterday. For the towels, the dryer was done about 15 minutes before the washer (so about 55 minutes since the wash cycle is 70 minutes with the extra rinse and extended wash) and the towels were completely dry. The dryer was set on the heavy duty sensor cycle (high heat) with wetness level set to normal. I am very happy with this, although I still need to figure out the best cycle for stuff like the loads of winter scarves, hats and gloves I did yesterday, bulky might have been a better choice. So I am happy with my decision. Oh yes, even better, I washed some stuff yesterday that I normally have to iron after washing, some of it needs some touch-ups, but a couple pieces could go right into the closet! Yeah! Less ironing!