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Posted by Tony Hwang on August 31, 2007, 1:34 pm
Mike wrote:
> I have a dryer, it's an electric Whirlpool, approximately 5 years old
> and a "common" consumer model. It's not top-of-the-line or anything
> of that nature.
>
> Last week the heat in the dryer just stopped working. It would
> continue to spin but there was no heat. I checked a few places online
> to troubleshoot what was going on, and eventually discovered that one
> of the two thermal cut-offs was open (blown). I went to my local
> appliance parts store, purchased a new set of thermal cut-ffs (a high
> and a low came in the same package for about $25. I installed the low
> cut-off, which was the one that went out, and things seemed to be
> working fine.
>
> While I was at the appliance parts store I asked the attendant if
> there were any common causes for this going out, and she said the
> majority of the time it is due to some kind of airflow problem.
>
> So I checked the lint trap, the intakes/blowers inside the dryer
> barrel, etc, etc. I then had my girlfriend start the dryer while I
> was outside so I could check the airflow to the vent outside.
> Everything *appeared* to be working perfectly. If there was an
> airflow blockage, I certainly couldn't tell it via convential means.
>
> In any case, I used the low heat and medium heat settings for a few
> loads that I had to do, and everything worked fine. I then ran some
> jeans last night and needed the "high" heat setting. I went back
> downstairs after the buzzer sounded to discover my jeans still pretty
> much soaked. Once again, it appears the heat has gone out. I haven't
> pulled it back apart yet, but I'm going to assume that once again the
> low thermal cut-off went out again.
>
> My main question is if anyone knows why this might be occurring? The
> exhaust vent to the outdoors is actually quite long, so I have no good
> way to "look" into it to see if it's blocked, but as I mentioned
> above, it honestly seems fine.. plenty of air is reaching the outside
> vent, which indicates to me that there's no significant airflow
> problem.
>
> Also, it seemed to me that after I repaired the thermal cut-off last
> time, when I used the "low" heat setting the first time, that the heat
> seemed pretty warm. I can't say whether it was much warmer than it
> had been previously, but it just seemed warmer than a low-heat setting
> should be. Once again, I have no real evidence saying this was the
> case, it's just a suspicion.
>
> Are there any other common parts that may be causing a problem here?
> The heating element appears to be in good shape. I didn't replace the
> "high" thermal cut-off while replacing the low, because it wasn't
> broken. Could that have anything to do with it? Anything else to
> look at or check?
>
> Last question might be: Any good places online to buy these parts? I
> didn't think $25 was too bad for getting the low and high thermal cut-
> offs in the same package, but then again, that's pretty expensive if
> I'm going to be replacing it more than once.
>
> Thanks for any replies.
>
Hi,
Usually those sensors are self resetting. If it is permanently
damaged(burnt out), I wonder if the heating element is over heating
by some reson like short or something. I'd clean out the lint build up
inside the dryer as much as I can and disconnect vent, cover the
exxhaust with an old nylon stocking and run a load to prove if air flow
is the problem or not.
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