Thought folks might be interested in a real strange problem failure in a reasonably new Roper/Kenmore electric dryer. I bought it on Craig's list for a very good price with assurances from seller that it worked perfectly. My bad.

It overheated badly. Finally blew the thermal fuse after two uses. With the price paid, I decided to repair myself. Immediately assumed thermostat. Rushed to the parts store and bought new one plus fuse. Replaced and tried again. Looked normal and watched as it heated up to insure heater shutoff. It did. While patting myself on the back for a job well done, my wife commented on the next set of loads that the unit was burning hot. Oh oh. Blew the fuse again.

OK, not the thermostat. Trouble shot much further the second time around. Heater appeared to follow the thermostat OK Then I looked much closer at the heating element. When the thermostat cut off, I noticed a part the element remained red. Whaat?

Pulled the element and found the mounting plate had cracked (bad shipping I presumed). It allowed a part of the actual element to shift and ground itself to the dryer body. In other words it never completely shut itself off even when the dryer was off.

Re-bent the element plate and bent the plate mounting tabs in their mounting holes of the heater body to hold it tight.

Works like brand new. Crazy failure.

Rick