Anyone Know About Laundry Dryers? Lol

[audiofanaticz]

I have a Amana gas dryer. It use to work but its not no more.

Its not heating up, thats my main problem i guess, so my cloths are not drying. I think I put a load of wash in it to dry yesturday and after it ran 5 cycles and my cloths are still damp and started to get that musty smell I pulled it apart.

I dont know nothing about the components inside it. I found this one site and its walking me through a little bit but not enough to know what is wrong.

I first started with the simple things, checked my duct work for exhaust, and pulled a hole crap load of lint out the ducts. I tried the dryer and still no luck.

So I propped the dryer up on a empty laundry bottle and tried it, and it started working, my basement got really hot because the duct is off the back.

When the panel was off I seen this probe heat up, which ignites the flame. I turned it off, put it all back together attached the duck work, tried it and no go.

So I took the front panel back off again and tried it, nothing!

So then I thought Id be a smart ass, and propped the thing back up on the laundry soap bottle, tried it and nothing.

I think I know what the heating element is, but I dont think that is the problem with it. There has to be some sort of switch or thermostat that is not working that is not allowing the gas to come out and heat the dryer up.

Ill grab a quick video.

[audiofanaticz]

This is info from www.partselect.com

Once you have gained access to your dryer's heating element, set your multimeter to the R x 1 resistance scale. Touch each meter probe and to one end of the element. If you receive a reading of infinite resistance, then your heating element is no longer functioning properly and you will have to replace it.

But it does not tell me what exactly to test. This is where my confusion is comming into play.

This is my heating element, or at least simular in size and looks.

Another possible cause for a dryer not heating up could be attributed to a faulty thermal fuse. Once a dryer's thermal fuse has blown, it is no longer of any use. If your dryer's fuse is blown, you will have to replace it. Open up your dryer's cabinet and locate its thermal fuse so that you can test it.

The wires leading to the thermal fuse are connected using metal slip on connectors. Remove the wires by pulling on the connectors, and not the wires themselves. It may be a good idea to use a pair of needle nosed pliers to help you.

Set your multimeter to the R X 1 setting. Take each of your meter's probes and touch one to each terminal. You are testing for continuity, and you should receive a reading of either zero or infinity. At room temperature, testing the thermal fuse should produce a reading of zero. But if a thermostat is tested when it is heated to its limit, a reading of infinity should be produced. We strongly recommend that you test your thermostat at room temperature.

If the test you conduct with your thermostat does not produce these results, then you should replace the component.

Now if it is the thermal fuse I wouldnt think the flames would start up from time to time, if its like a normal fuse, once it blows you would get nothing at all. So I dont think this is my problem but I have no idea what this looks like on my dryer or where it is.

The next thing is the thermostat according to this site it says to test each of them (so there must be 2), I think I see one on my heating element assembly (it has pink wires in the video I took, is this the thermostat, and where is the other one? lol

Your dryer uses multiple thermostats to regulate its internal temperature. The cycle selected determines which thermostat is used. A cycling thermostat can be found somewhere in the path of air that is leaving the drum. It could be found on the blower wheel housing or inside the venting/exhaust system. Dryer thermostats are usually oval shaped and about an inch and a half in length. Also, there should be two wires leading to each thermostat. Label these wires before you remove them so that you are able to correctly reconnect them later.

The wires leading to the thermostat are connected using metal slip on connectors. Remove the wires by pulling on the connectors, and not the wires themselves. It may be a good idea to use a pair of needle nosed pliers to help you.

Set your multimeter to the R X 1 setting. Take each of your meter's probes and touch one to each terminal. You are testing for continuity, and you should receive a reading of either zero or infinity. At room temperature, testing the thermostat should produce a reading of zero. But if a thermostat is tested when it is heated to its limit, a reading of infinity should be produced. We strongly recommend that you test your thermostat at room temperature.

here is the video

In the video it fires up and works, but then it stopped after a few minutes when I checked on it again, and it was trying to ignite the flame but didnt

[trainman0978]

Look in the local trader paper. Somebody has to be selling a used electric dryer for around 150 bucks. Every town has some guy that repairs and sells washers and dryers that they repair for cheap. Hell, he might take yours on trade, and probably be cheaper than fixing it. Also, a electric dryer is much cheaper to run than a gas one is....

Sorry bud, I know nothing other than that.

Edited September 4, 2008 by trainman0978

[Aaron813]

Check all the gas sensors in it

[Eric B]

Time for a new one bro...

Too bad you dont live any closer, I work at Lowes so I could give you a discount.. but thats out of the question

Edited September 4, 2008 by Eric B

[Aaron813]

If you do get new ones get front loaders you wont regret it and itll save you money on your bills and you wont ever have to buy another set

[Forevrbumpn]

that little black box in the side is the glow sensor, those go bad more often than the rest, what that does is open the solenoids which are towards the front, the cylinder looking things-they are black, 2 of them

Then the glowing piece, that is the igniter, if that is bad, it wont allow the valves to open, the flame sensor wont notice the igniter glow- if not glowing REALLY hot, should be close to red hot, and almost hurt your eyes to look at it when glowing

If you have a volt meter, and let everything cool off, post the resistance of the igniter, the 2 plain wires, disconnect, and test

What you had sparked, you probably screwed up, that is a thermal sensor, if it gets to hot, it trips, and more than likely you just gotta buy a new one, check continuity on that- (well maybe not, because it started)

Intermitted start will almost 100% be the igniter, they cost from $20-40

I used to work on this stuff at Sears, everything is circuit based, just go around in loops

1 goes bad, you just gotta test whats in front of that, then in front of that

[audiofanaticz]

that little black box in the side is the glow sensor, those go bad more often than the rest, what that does is open the solenoids which are towards the front, the cylinder looking things-they are black, 2 of them

Then the glowing piece, that is the igniter, if that is bad, it wont allow the valves to open, the flame sensor wont notice the igniter glow- if not glowing REALLY hot, should be close to red hot, and almost hurt your eyes to look at it when glowing

If you have a volt meter, and let everything cool off, post the resistance of the igniter, the 2 plain wires, disconnect, and test

What you had sparked, you probably screwed up, that is a thermal sensor, if it gets to hot, it trips, and more than likely you just gotta buy a new one, check continuity on that- (well maybe not, because it started)

Intermitted start will almost 100% be the igniter, they cost from $20-40

I used to work on this stuff at Sears, everything is circuit based, just go around in loops

1 goes bad, you just gotta test whats in front of that, then in front of that

Thank you sir!!

Your answer goes along with what the guy at the appliance repair place told me.

When I sparked the thermal sensor I was just in there whacking shit with a screwdriver ( i figured it works when your starter on a car takes a shit). Lol

Buying a new dryer is not in the plans when that is money that can be spend on the stereo ( i got my priorities straight)...

I tested the thermostats per the instrustions I got from the one site, and it checks out straight.

So it was a $31.XX fix with tax, and no labor charge because I did it myself with the help of the SMD forums

Just a few pics.

My mommys weiner dog, but he is dieing too! He is just a puppy a few months old, I guess there is something that happens to a lot of them when they are born that the liver gets bypassed and he is getting no protein or anything. The surgury costs about $500 to fix him, but my moms not gonna spend the money if its only a slight chance that the surgury will work

So these are the old thermo coils I took out, This is what forevrbumping was describing it sounds like and what the guy at the store said. He said they dont deal with amana and that most newer dryers use 2 of them and there is no real way to test them, when they go out for repairs its the first thing they try because its a quick simple fix and chances are its the problem. He said if it was a thermostat that was bad the dryer wouldnt call for more heat and heat up the igniter.

So once the new ones are in I plugged the dryer back in, and turned the gas back on and....

I cycled it a few times and sat there watching it for a good 20-30 minutes and it kept working properly so that was my problem.