Posted: 2/17/2010 6:06:39 PM EDT
| Anyone know where to start with diagnosing a problem with a gas dryer? All works except does not fire and get hot. (gas is on and power works) |
| Does it get hot at all? Just for a few minutes? Can you hear the solenoid [s] on the gas valve click? Make of dryer? How dirty was the vent and screen? Were they plugged with lint? Probably either the solenoids on the gas valve or the thermal fuse on the back under the cover. |
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Anyone know where to start with diagnosing a problem with a gas dryer? All works except does not fire and get hot. (gas is on and power works) Burned out ignitor is a common problem. If there is an access panel onthe front, open it up, turn the dryer on and watch the ignitor. It should glow red hot. If the ignitor cracks and is open circuit it prevents the gas valve from opening. |
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Depending on how old your dryer is the electrical and mechanical schematics might be tucked in a folder inside, or may be with the other paperwork if you have it.
When you turn the dryer on you should hear a click as a relay engages the hot surface ignitor circuit. If you do not hear the click check the vent pipe for lint or restrictions. If you hear the click then look for the HSI and see if it glows - should get yellow or white hot. If the HSI does not get hot replacements are relatively inexpensive. Look the surface of the HSI over very carefully for a hairline crack - my furnace had the HSI go and the hairline crack was edged on both sides with a light gray film. If the HSI gets hot listen for the click of the relay that controls the gas solenoid and listen for the solenoid to fire. These may be hard to distinguish with the dryer running. You may also be able to measure the resistance of the solenoid coil with some google sleuthing using your particular model dryer. Other things to check inside the dryer include various fuses, circuit breakers, or thermostat switches. Check to see if that electrical schematic is inside your dryer case. If you have 110v present and the drum turns, the only external thing would be if the gas got shut off somehow. Forgot to add that if you have crud / corrosion / debris in your gas line it may have been carried into the mechanical portion of the solenoid inside the dryer. Had to take mine apart again a few weeks after replacing the gas solenoid because a shred of the nice gas rated teflon tape wound up in there also. I always use paste now. |
| Igniters going out on dryers just isn't that common, the most common are the thermal fuse and the solenoids on the gas valve. Both are [2styles of solenoids] pretty inevpensive and easy to do. After those two issues, it would be the igniter and the flame sensor [window with glass] that reads the flame and keeps the circuit live. |
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Guys-
Thanks for all the responses. After I made my post I ripped into the machine and was lucky to find a couple of printed pages with trouble shooting hints. Yes, it was the thermal fuse. The thermistor was caked in lint, and I think that was the problem. While it was still installed I checked the resistance and it seemed out of wack (the troubleshooting manual even had a table of resistance/temp values  ) I brushed it off and checked the resistance again and that seemed to fix the problem with the resistance. I jumped the fuse and the thing fired right up. Picked up a replacement fuse at sears today and there is a full load drying right now. In your experience am I right to assume that the caked on lint on the thermal resistor might have caused it to overheat causing the fuse to blow, or is there something else I should be on the look out for?
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Quoted:
Guys- Thanks for all the responses. After I made my post I ripped into the machine and was lucky to find a couple of printed pages with trouble shooting hints. Yes, it was the thermal fuse. The thermistor was caked in lint, and I think that was the problem. While it was still installed I checked the resistance and it seemed out of wack (the troubleshooting manual even had a table of resistance/temp values ) I brushed it off and checked the resistance again and that seemed to fix the problem with the resistance. I jumped the fuse and the thing fired right up. Picked up a replacement fuse at sears today and there is a full load drying right now. In your experience am I right to assume that the caked on lint on the thermal resistor might have caused it to overheat causing the fuse to blow, or is there something else I should be on the look out for?Plugged ventline, partially plugged or someone didn't clean out the lint filter after every load like they are supposed to do. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Guys- Thanks for all the responses. After I made my post I ripped into the machine and was lucky to find a couple of printed pages with trouble shooting hints. Yes, it was the thermal fuse. The thermistor was caked in lint, and I think that was the problem. While it was still installed I checked the resistance and it seemed out of wack (the troubleshooting manual even had a table of resistance/temp values ) I brushed it off and checked the resistance again and that seemed to fix the problem with the resistance. I jumped the fuse and the thing fired right up. Picked up a replacement fuse at sears today and there is a full load drying right now. In your experience am I right to assume that the caked on lint on the thermal resistor might have caused it to overheat causing the fuse to blow, or is there something else I should be on the look out for?Plugged ventline, partially plugged or someone didn't clean out the lint filter after every load like they are supposed to do. Thanks. I checked the vent line, was actually pretty clean. Was the plenum that holds the lint filter that was caked with line (this is where the thermistor is located). I scraped and cleaned this all out so I am hoping I should be good to go. We actually clean the filter every load. We've had the units about 8-9 years and they were used when we got them. I am just guessing that over time that extra lint can build up? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Guys- Thanks for all the responses. After I made my post I ripped into the machine and was lucky to find a couple of printed pages with trouble shooting hints. Yes, it was the thermal fuse. The thermistor was caked in lint, and I think that was the problem. While it was still installed I checked the resistance and it seemed out of wack (the troubleshooting manual even had a table of resistance/temp values ) I brushed it off and checked the resistance again and that seemed to fix the problem with the resistance. I jumped the fuse and the thing fired right up. Picked up a replacement fuse at sears today and there is a full load drying right now. In your experience am I right to assume that the caked on lint on the thermal resistor might have caused it to overheat causing the fuse to blow, or is there something else I should be on the look out for?Plugged ventline, partially plugged or someone didn't clean out the lint filter after every load like they are supposed to do. Thanks. I checked the vent line, was actually pretty clean. Was the plenum that holds the lint filter that was caked with line (this is where the thermistor is located). I scraped and cleaned this all out so I am hoping I should be good to go. We actually clean the filter every load. We've had the units about 8-9 years and they were used when we got them. I am just guessing that over time that extra lint can build up? Yes, it can, over time, plug up the interior vent line past the lint screen. I'm always amazed that there are as few fires as there are that are dryer related. Also opened up a few [always had excessively long vents or to many elbows] that did catch on fire but put itself out. There is a reason that dryer bodies are steel. |