My dryer went out.

[Tyralak]

Anyone have any idea what might cause this? I was doing laundry yesterday and noticed the dryer had been running a long time. I went to to check the clothes, and they were still wet, plus the dryer was cold. I closed the door, and tried to re-start it. Now it won't even start at all. This just out of the blue. Anyone know what might cause it do do this, and is it something I can fix or should I just go buy a new one?

 

[Eva Greczkowski]

I had something similar to that happen before. I called the repair man and I believe the estimate for repair was about $300. I don't remember what the problem was though. I guess it would depend on what kind of dryer you have. I opted to get a new one then, and got the front loaders, which were more expensive than the one I had. I didn't think it was worth it to fix that one, but if I had to spend $300 to fix this one, I probably would.

 

[lumpkin666]

Hard to say. Could be a fuse, could be the heat element, or could be the drum is stuck (like one of those mysterious missing socks got wrapped around something and it won't turn?)

 

[stogie5150]

Dryers are one of the simplist household apliances to fix....usually when it won't heat its either the element or the thermostat...

Here's one site I use around the house to troubleshoot...

Appliance Parts from RepairClinic.com - Troubleshooting: Dryer


Here's another:

Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man » Dryer Repair FAQ

Hope that helps!

 

[Tyralak]

Dryers are one of the simplist household apliances to fix....usually when it won't heat its either the element or the thermostat...

Here's one site I use around the house to troubleshoot...

Appliance Parts from RepairClinic.com - Troubleshooting: Dryer


Here's another:

Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man » Dryer Repair FAQ

Hope that helps!

Thank you. I'll give those a shot. I really am not too happy about plunking down $400 for a new one (basic model at that)

 

[Bob Haller]

gas or electric? ever clean the vent line? they get plugged up with lint and can blow the thermal fuse

 

[Tyralak]

gas or electric? ever clean the vent line? they get plugged up with lint and can blow the thermal fuse

It's electric. It had a short vent directly outside. I kept it clean. But I saw a lot of lint on the electrical contacts when I went to look a bit ago.

 

[dfergie]

My experience has been when elements went out it would still come on and spin...

 

[Eva Greczkowski]

Actually, I think that is what was wrong with my dryer. The heating element was broken. It may not be as much to fix if you are a do it yourselfer. Scott is not, unless it is a satellite dish! lol

 

[dfergie]

I wimped out last year when my 30 year old dryer finally gave up the ghost and I moved it out, moved in one from storage and it wouldn't run (belt and I didn't have time to mess with, back in storage)but I lucked out and called my brother as I was on the way in to buy a new one... He had his Mother in Laws washer and dryer in storage (she is in a home now)bought barely used Kenmore washer and dryer for $400...

 

[Mike500]

If it isn't a broken heating element, it's one of those thermal overload devices. Checkout the circuit diagram on the inside of the back panel. Disconect the clip on wires on the individual thermostatic cutout switch. If you can't get continuty, the switch as blown. There are resetable and non resetable switches.

The offending switch usually cost less than $10. As an experienced appliance repairman, I'll have to say I've picked up quite a few good dryers from curbs that would have cost no more than $10 to repair. They easily resold for $100 in the local classified ads.

 

[dfergie]

Yeah I will fix the belt when I have the patience (GE also close to 30 years old)I replaced the belt on the one that went out a couple of years ago and have kept the electronics out of it to use on the newer one...

 

[gbjbany]

I use Sears home repair. You pay $70, for the call out and if they can fix it they give you a quote, that way you can determine if a new dryer is a better option. Plus if i remember correctly, the $70 goes towards the final cost, if you decide to have it repaired.

You can schedule online, ive found them to be reliable and have used them 3 or 4 times.

 

[jayn_j]

Actually, I think that is what was wrong with my dryer. The heating element was broken. It may not be as much to fix if you are a do it yourselfer. Scott is not, unless it is a satellite dish! lol

I believe I paid $45 for a new heating element for my Maytag. Took about two hours, and most of that was cleaning out the gunk. As an added bonus, I recovered about $8 in quarters, nickles and dimes, plus a half dozen $1 bills and a ten-spot. Which means it actually only cost me $20 to fix it.

I would recommend changing the belt at the same time as preventative maintenance.

Dryers are easy. Much easier than the dishwasher or washing machine, but tougher than the stove.

 

[Hall]

...and noticed the dryer had been running a long time. I went to to check the clothes, and they were still wet, plus the dryer was cold. I closed the door, and tried to re-start it. Now it won't even start at all.

As already mentioned, dryers are very simple devices... Your scenario is odd though. Since it started, that suggests the electrical portion is likely okay. Clothes still wet and dryer cold says it didn't heat up -- points to the heating element. Not re-starting now is back to the electrical parts, i.e. contacts.

I'd say it's something simple at this point. Clean out the vent *again*. Remove enough of the panels to get to the "guts" and make sure things aren't covered in lint. Finally check the fuse(s) inside the dryer as well as the circuit breaker it's on.

 

[lumpkin666]

I'd make sure the drum rotates easily, and it's not jammed. If it's got something causing the drum to drag, it would have ran "fine" last time, but not tumbled enough to dry your clothes, and probably won't actually startup now that it has stopped (I only know this because my dryer did this awhile back - hence the earlier suggestion about the missing sock)

 

[Derwin0]

Remember, the heating element and tumbler have separate power inputs.
The 220 line that goes to the dryer is actually used as 2 separate 110's.
One hot goes to the heating element, and the other goes to the tumbler.

A bad fuse, or half a breaker tripping can cause the loss of one or the other. If you can, pull the plug and verify you have 220 between the 2 hots, and separately 110 between each hot and the neutral. Also verify power to nuts where your power cord wires into the dryer.

Also, make sure you didn't accidentally switch the dryer into tumble (ie no heat) mode. I did that once, and felt like an idiot after troubleshooting the power line, coming to the conclusion the heating element was dead, informing my wife the dryer was broken, and then having her tell me she had it in tumble mode for some delicates.

The drum not rotating after that makes me think you might have a bad breaker though, as the heating and tumbling are separate. The breaker may have partially tripped, and then eventually fully tripped. Try reseting it to see if that fixes anything. If it does, I'd replace the breaker, as it should have tripped both lines, and not one and then the other.

 

[bhelms]

I have a 30+ y.o. Kenmore that I have repaired a number of times for various reasons. (A subject of one of my earlier "mojo" posts - I really get a LOT of self satisfaction by repairing things vs. relegating them to the landfill and buying new ones, which in many cases are inferior quality and won't last nearly as long.)

As others have mentioned, I suspect the heating element. That went bad many times in my dryer. For a number of years I could actually repair the element itself. Finally it got so bad that I had to replace it and the part from Sears cost about $65 shipped. Since I replaced that about 4 years ago the heat has worked reliably, but I have since replaced the drum rollers, door switch, and belt. All parts are readily available, if not from Sears then from other on-line sources. And quite often those alternate sources are less expensive than Sears. If yours happens to be a Kenmore, you can use the Sears site to determine the part number you need then Goggle that.

If your heating element is "open" (has a burned-out place in the coil) and you want to try to repair it, PM me and I'll tell you how I did it. The only risk I see with this is that it is more likely to fail again, but you might be able to postpone buying a new element for several years that way...

PS - My dryer has a single 240 volt power requirement (only line, line and ground, a 3-wire connection - come into it) and the elements, motor and timer are all 240-volt rated. There is nothing that is 120 volt in my dryer - that would require a neutral (4-wire) connection which is definitely not there.

 

[jayn_j]

Remember, the heating element and tumbler have separate power inputs.
The 220 line that goes to the dryer is actually used as 2 separate 110's.
One hot goes to the heating element, and the other goes to the tumbler.

A bad fuse, or half a breaker tripping can cause the loss of one or the other. If you can, pull the plug and verify you have 220 between the 2 hots, and separately 110 between each hot and the neutral. Also verify power to nuts where your power cord wires into the dryer.

Also, make sure you didn't accidentally switch the dryer into tumble (ie no heat) mode. I did that once, and felt like an idiot after troubleshooting the power line, coming to the conclusion the heating element was dead, informing my wife the dryer was broken, and then having her tell me she had it in tumble mode for some delicates.

The drum not rotating after that makes me think you might have a bad breaker though, as the heating and tumbling are separate. The breaker may have partially tripped, and then eventually fully tripped. Try reseting it to see if that fixes anything. If it does, I'd replace the breaker, as it should have tripped both lines, and not one and then the other.

I was going to mention the breaker as well. I would disagree on how the phases are split though. The drum motor is definitely a single phase 110V device, working off half of the 220. I have seen heating elements that are pure 220, and I have seen heating elements modelled as 2 phase 110 devices. The difference is that the second type places a tap for the neutral halfway down the coil. That allows the coil to heat with 1/2 the energy if there is a single break in the coil. You get lukewarm clothes that take a long time to dry. The other advantage of the split approach is that it can be placed asymmetrically which allows the designer to compensate for the current being drawn by the motor and perform load balancing between the two phases.

Heating elements draw a lot of current, and would require 50 amps at 110.

 

[iafirebuff]

repairclinic.com is an awesome place! seems to have great prices, quick shipping and diagrams!