Noticed a burning smell this afternoon, and followed my nose to our dryer. It was running fine, but I shut it down to investigate.

Checked the ducting - a little bit of lint but nothing major, and definitely nothing blackened/burned.

Smell was strongest in the dryer itself, definitely in the right place. No smoke, just a moderate generic smokey smell. (Did not smell like melting plastic, rubber, or anything like that)

Took the dryer apart, and found that the rubber seal on the blower had snapped. Also found that the lint trap housing was loose, and there was a fair bit of dryer lint in the bottom of the dryer box itself.

This is my working theory:

-Lint trap housing rattled loose, allowing slow accumulation of lint inside dryer.

-Blower seal pops, letting some air blow around inside inside dryer box.

-Moving air kicked lint up into heating element, making the stink that got my attention.

My questions are:

a) does this sound plausible or should I check something else?

b) do I really need to get the proper replacement rubber seal? seems to run $30-40 bucks. I am thinking duct tape or high-temp flue tape would work and be much cheaper, with the added bonus of being able fix it today.

If I can go with just slapping some tape on it, I'll definitely make sure we are nearby for the next few uses.

Here are some pics to show what I'm talking about.
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seal sitting in between the heating unit (left) and the blower (right) when in place it covers the gap between the metal and plastic. You can see a small gap between the pieces. I already vacuumed out the 1/4 inch or so of lint that was on the bottom.

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same thing but wider angle

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close up of heating unit

Age of unit?

Losing your home to fire isn't worth it, I'd just replace it for $4-500 and sleep better.

5 years I think.

Hate to replace it for a single occurrence of a bad smell. No smoke or other concerns.

High temp tape would probably work fine.

Aluminized vent tape kicks ass for replacing the cheap rubber ''inner tube'' garbage used. This dryer is a cheapo unit and if you replace the blower wheel, the entire housing has to be replaced.  I'd recommend you do a temp check on the dryer t stat operation, 210-230 then off and should kick back on around 110-120 if all is OK.

The thermostat temp test sounds like a good idea.

Any instructions on how to do it properly?

Electric dryer is the easiest appliance to repair

Place the temp probe in the empty drum and run it on high/cotton heat.

Make sure you have good air flow out at the vent outside.

If temps climb very quickly and cool down is slow then the vent is partially obstructed. You should have a consistent up/down in temps after the first couple of cycles.