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clothes dryer not hot

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clothes dryer not hot badgolferman 02-09-2007
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Posted by SMS on February 12, 2007, 3:52 pm


mm wrote:

> For the first 10 or 20 years of my repair "career", starting about age
> 8, that's mostly what I did. Take something apart and put it back
> together and it works. I never knew why in most cases.

The good thing is that everyone thinks you're a genius! I fixed my
father-in-law's TV by taking the back off and putting it back on. I
suspected a bad relay for the on-off switch, as I've seen this before,
but whatever was wrong it's been working for about five years now.

Posted by RBM on February 9, 2007, 4:50 pm


It tells me that the dryer is not the problem, its an open circuit to one of
the hot legs, either in the wiring to the dryer or at the circuit breaker




> RBM, 2/9/2007,11:43:59 AM, wrote:
>
>> On the three posts , if you connect a volt meter across the two outer
>> posts, do you get 240 volts?
>
> No, there is not. But there is 120 VAC to chassis ground from each
> post when running and 15 VAC when not. What does that tell you?



Posted by mm on February 9, 2007, 3:17 pm


On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 11:43:59 -0500, "RBM" <rbm2(remove
this)@optonline.net> wrote:

>On the three posts , if you connect a volt meter across the two outer posts,
>do you get 240 volts?
>
>
>
>> Steve Barker, 2/9/2007,10:35:23 AM, wrote:
>>
>>> there's nothing to a dryer. So no real reason to replace it (at a
>>> cost of $300 - $1000) just because it needs a $79 element. As
>>> mentioned before, make sure you have proper electric service to the
>>> machine. Then unplug it and start taking it apart from the back.
>>> You'll find there's about a half a dozen parts that make up the
>>> entire machine, and you'll probably find the element burned out.
>>> COULD be a thermostat switch, but they are easy to check with an ohm
>>> meter.
>>
>> There are three single post connections on the back of the drum with
>> only one wire going to them. When not running they each have 15 VAC on
>> them and when running they each have 120 VAC. With the wires off they
>> all have some resistance between each other but not the same ohm value.
>> If the element was bad wouldn't there be an open between those three
>> connections?

I'm assuming for the moment that it is an electricla problem. There
woudl be an open if the element was bad, unless there is another way
to get from A to B. Sometimes there are multiple paths to the same
place. Is there a wiring diagram on the inside of the cover you took
off, or anywhere?

When you don't know if there is an alternate electric path, the best
thing is to disconnect one of the two wires from its post, and measure
the wire only to the other post. You can also measure from the post
only (with the wire disconnected) to the other post to confirm that
there is an alternate path. The total resistance of two resistors in
parallel is found with the formula 1/a + 1/b = 1/total . If, for
example, b is infinite, the 1/a = 1/total .

But maybe all the elements are good and it's some other problem.

Before to measure voltage before measureing resistance at the same
place. Don't want to burn out the meter, or yourself.

Keep close track of whether the dryer is plugged in or not.

>> There are also two other sensor type items with two wires each. One is
>> black and has numbers on it. It has a short between the posts with the
>> wires off. The other also has a short between the posts with the wires
>> off.

That wiring diagram would give an idea what they are. One might be
temp sensor, that opens if it gets too hot, or a dampness sensor if
you have that feature on your dryer.


BTW, my washer and dryer are 27 years old and working fine. I only
do laundry for myself, but still, when they are 37 years old that will
be like 18 years for two people.

Posted by on February 9, 2007, 12:19 pm


wrote:

>there's nothing to a dryer. So no real reason to replace it (at a cost of
>$300 - $1000) just because it needs a $79 element. As mentioned before,
>make sure you have proper electric service to the machine. Then unplug it
>and start taking it apart from the back.

Except some machines come apart from the front...:)

> You'll find there's about a half a
>dozen parts that make up the entire machine, and you'll probably find the
>element burned out. COULD be a thermostat switch, but they are easy to
>check with an ohm meter.


Posted by dpb on February 9, 2007, 1:36 pm


On Feb 9, 11:19 am, Bill_Mo...@home.com wrote:
> wrote:
>
> >there's nothing to a dryer. So no real reason to replace it (at a cost of
> >$300 - $1000) just because it needs a $79 element. As mentioned before,
> >make sure you have proper electric service to the machine. Then unplug it
> >and start taking it apart from the back.
>
> Except some machines come apart from the front...:)
>
...

Specifically, for GE, there are two clips at front to raise the top,
then the front comes off w/ two screws at the top so can pull the drum
to get access to the heating elements, etc...


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