Drier Repair Help?

audiobliss

So, our drier quit drying. It's an old Kenmore 90 Series. Stopped working all together a few months ago, replaced a really cheap fuse on it, been good as new since then. However, maybe two weeks ago it stopped drying. Turns on, spins just fine, just produces no heat. So I finally got in there and opened it up. Probably don't really need to have access to much in there, but I've never seen inside a drier and was curious, so it's now in a few pieces.

I removed the heating element, as that seems like the likeliest culprit. I used a multimeter and checked it for continuity, there are no breaks in the heating element itself. However, the unit has two thermal resistors on the side that could be bad? From my limited googling research it seems those are the next best guess. I also opened up the control panel on top tonight but didn't really see anything that looked suspicious.

So basically, what should I be looking for? Are the thermal resistors on the side of the heating element a good bet for being the issue here? Is there a way I can test them before replacing? I'm not sure if I'd be able to replace just those locally, but if all else fails, I'm sure I can get them cheap online. What else should I be looking for? I'd really appreciate any input you might have!

Here it is, torn down in all its glory.


Since it's not actually mine and it's pretty nice to have in working order, I actually took the time to tape off all the connections and screws and marked them so I'd know where they go when I reassemble. Probably a good thing, too, since I've been dragging my feet and had it laying in pieces for two weeks.


And here you can see the fuse that I had already replaced a few months prior.


Here's the heating element as it would be oriented, screwed to the bottom of the drier.


Holes on the side where the thermal resistors belong.


"Thermal resistors." afaik

20hz

you got a bunch of patience I think you will find it , did you check if you are getting voltage at the heating unit , did you check both legs of the 120 volt input ?
A buddy of mine has a bunch of those thermal resisters I guess they go out a lot ( cheap easy get some ) .
good luck

amulford

Look for a schematic for it. It will help with the troubleshooting. If everything else is working and there is continuity in the heating element, I would look at the controller for the element.

devani

what I did was turned the unit on minus drum(letting the motor run) and heating element (no heat)....use hair dyer to see if it works....

I replaced the heating element because one of the wires was broken...but keep in mind that heating element has mutiple wires in parallel and so it's best to open and check for breaks with your own eyes

obieone

Those thermal resisters, are actually a thermostat, and a limit switch. The thermostat cycles the element on/ off, and the limit switch is a safety device, which, in the event of the belt breaking, or the drum motor dying, it stops the house from burning down.
If you have continuity through those, you're good. The element is a different situation. The element has to have a certain amount of resistance ot work. Too little(shorted), or too much(open) are both no good. You need to find out what ohm value(range) is supposed to be.

gdb

http://www.applianceguru.com/selected.html

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clothes+dryer+repair&oq=clothes+dryer&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l10.1564.6448.0.12761.13.10.0.3.3.0.75.668.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.PIOiEnyKlBA

onebadchad

Mountain Dew and Pizza, Oh YeAH!

soundfreak1

I used to work on those back in tje early 70's just out of high school 90% of the time it was the element they are not expensive i think but call a parts house and see.usually if u look catefully u can find a break in yhe coil somewhere.

Polkie2009

+1 soundfreak1, I've known people over the past 30 to 40 years who always bought used washers,dryers etc. because they couldn't afford new appliances. A lot of them owned Kenmore, Whirlpool, GE washers and dryers. They would eventually have the same issue as audiobliss and usually had to replace the heating element.

fossy

I replaced the heating element last year in the exact same dryer ........ i think the cost was 120 bucks for the assembly ....doesn't help with diagnosis but just sayin ...

gdb

For 120 bucks.......you can buy 2 or three working dryers off of craigslist !

disneyjoe7

Well too me we all know something is bad... Comes down to Element, Thermostat, or limit switch. Either putting the thing back together to check where you have voltage or don't. Or could bench test it if wired all in series and made a 120vac cheater cord to power heater to see what works or not. Be safe you're playing with juice baby.

rpf65

Just a thought. Did you happen to check for lint build up in the vent piping, before you disassembled your drier?
I've witnessed many appliance people telling customers: Just a lot of lint build up. That'll be $150, and have a nice day.

soundfreak1

If they have gone up to over a hundo for the element... Ide have to consider picking up a user dryer for 50.00( easy to find) unless yours is especially nice or a close ti new unit. Used good working driers ( as stated above) are cheep. Just make sure they work first.

audiobliss

Thanks for all the input, guys. I've been lazy and dragging my feet, so between work and play, I hadn't looked at it again until today. I ended up reassembling it and troubleshooting. I unhooked the wires from the back 'thermistor' (idk now which is a thermostat and which is a limiter), connected them directly to each other, and the heating element lit up as soon as I turned it on. So I pulled out the heating element again, took it to a local appliance shop, and ended up buying a replacement for both units on the side of the heating element, as they said the first caused the second to go bad.

I just installed the new units, reinstalled the heating element, and she lights up bright! However, she lights up really bright and smells almost like an electric stove top on high with nothing on it. Granted, I've never run the drier before with the 'kickpanel' removed, but I can't believe that would contain the smell so well we never would have noticed it before. I snapped two pictures of it. Does the smell and the look seem acceptable?

disneyjoe7

Is the drier on? blowing air if not the heater will be very hot and look like it does.

audiobliss

I think it's fine. I had forgotten I hadn't yet installed the little heat shield OR the ducting for the air, thus meaning there was no air flow through the heating element, so it just slowly wafted out the front of the drier. Actually finished assembling it, and all's well!!

disneyjoe7

Good I think you fixed it.

Polkie2009

BOOYAH audiobliss! Looks like you got it bro! I want to say brand new heating elements have a smell at first for a bit. +1 on what you said about installing it and get some air flow going over it .