Let's start off with some history first. One day I go to start a load in this dryer and it acts dead. Regardless of what button is pushed on the Control Panel, nothing happens. I then unplugged the unit and left it that way overnight. The next day I plug it in again and it comes back to life. I start the unit with a few towels to see what it will do. It starts running but after a few minutes it starts to beep like crazy, while continuing to run. Wanting to stop this annoyance, I press the stop button and the unit just dies. No further button response from there.

In the course of researching this symptom, I experimented with leaving it plugged in and unplugged during overnight periods. If left plugged in, it would act dead. If left unplugged, it would start but then start beeping like crazy again and die if any buttons were pressed. Based on the symptoms, it seemed like the Control Board was the culprit. Not wanting to spend $200 on a new Control Board, I asked my brother to take a look at it since he has tinkered with appliance repairs.

The Control Board was obviously Reconditioned. Aside from the sticker that said it was Reconditioned, it apparently had the Transformer, two Relays, and a couple of other small components replaced. As well, the spacer that should have been present where the Control Board screws to the metal plate was not present, causing the PC Board to be badly warped. My brother decided to replace the two Relays and then solder in wires for the contact points of the Transformer and two Relays in case there was a cracked trace somewhere due the the warping.

Upon reinstalling the Control Board and testing the unit, it appeared to work. I initially just threw in a couple of small towels and they appeared to dry without a problem. What I discounted at the time was that they appeared to be a little on the hot side when finished. The next test was a full load to be dryed. So I start the unit up and walk away. When I go back to check on the load, the dryer is off, but the clothes are nuclear hot. Almost scorched. I can't even hold them for a few seconds.

When the clothes eventually cooled down enough to put away, I tried the dryer again, this time with nothing inside. Now there was no heat. Turns out the Thermal Fuse blew. I replaced the Thermal Fuse, blew out the venting to make sure there were no obstructions. Everything inside the unit was pretty clean, but I gave it a quick vacuuming anyways. I washed the lint screen as well. I tried testing it again and it got extremely hot and eventually stopped, showing a E2 error on the Control Panel. It also blew the Thermal Fuse again.

Since I didn't want to keep purchasing Thermal Fuses, I taped the two wires together for trouble-shooting purposes. I installed a new Thermister and High Limit Thermostat. There does not appear to be a Cycling Thermostat for this unit. While observing the activity of the dryer while it starts running, the Heating Element starts to light up, the gas kicks in and a flame is produced, the Heating Element turns off, and the flame is still going. In fact the flame never turns off. It just keeps getting hotter and hotter until the unit shuts off with an E2 error.

Another odd symptom is that even if I set the dryer to Air Only (No Heat) the unit starts and the next thing I know the flame starts up. It doesn't matter what setting I have it on. Once it gets started the flame will come on and burn until the unit shuts itself down.

I disconnected the plug that has the Thermister wires from the Control Board and hooked a meter up to them. I then stuck a hair dryer in the front hole where the blower wheel is and proceeded to blow heat down towards the Thermister. The cold reading was 18 and it slowly dropped to 1.5 as it got hotter. I stopped the heat at that point and eventually the reading slowly rose as it cooled down.

I'm leaning towards an issue with the Control Board still, since it wants to produce heat even when set to Air Only (No Heat). I'm guessing that the Gas Valve and Coils aren't a factor at that point. The Thermal Fuse is bypassed, the Thermister and High Limit Thermostat are new. The Termister appears to be working up to the point of where it plugs into the Control Board.

Any ideas on this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Dan Shalashnow

As a follow up to this issue, the problem was the Control Board. But instead of shelling out $200 on a new one, some more attention was paid to the warping issue and the possibility of cracked traces. Primarily around the Heater Relay. Jumpering in more wires to bypass all of the traces leading to the Heater Relay has resolved the issue. As it turns out, the Control Board had been replaced by the previous owner of this washer and dryer set. Apparently the repairman didn't seemed concerned that he mounted the Refurbished Control Board without the proper spacer, which caused the warping and eventually the cracked traces.