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My wife said the other day that our dryer has a sort of humidity sensor in it that "knows" when the clothes are dry ad shuts the dryer off accordingly.
This started because I stuck in one pair of jeans for our kid and set the dryer dial about halfway between "more dry" and "less dry" in regular mode. I let the dryer run for about 20 minutes and took the jeans out (they felt dry). She asked me if they were dry and I said they felt dry and she said "did the dryer stop" and I said no and explained what I did. She then said that if I set the dial to the maximum setting "more dry" that it would automatically stop when the pants were dry and since I stopped the dryer the pants were probably not dry. I told her I didn't think that was how dryers worked. NOTE: (the pants were obviously dry and she didn't contest that nor did my daughter)
Her reasoning was based on experience (she says), that if she puts in a load full of towels, for instance, and sets the dial to more dry, it will take an hour to dry them. if she only puts in a shirt or two and sets the dial in the same position, it will be done more quickly.
I looked up the parts for our model and I see a thermostat and a thermal fuse and that's it. my understanding is the thermostat regulates the temp inside the dryer and the fuse is there to shut off the dryer in case it overheats. I don't see anything that detects the humidity level of the clothes.
I have read that there are some more modern (and expensive) dryers that actually will sense the humidity of the clothes, but our dryer is a pretty basic on and is about 13 years old.
Any explanation for resolving this stupid debate is appreciated.
NOTE: I told her I could be wrong but I doubted our dryer was that fancy. She told me "I want you to look it up because I know you are wrong". Game on woman!
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You are both right sort of.
There is no moisture sensor in this unit.
It does advance to off when the clothes are dry.
The way it works is that in auto modes the timer only advances when the heater is off.
When clothes are wet it takes more energy to raise the temperature up to the set point temperature so the heater is on all or most of the time.
As the clothes dry less energy is required so the heater is on less and this advances the timer to off.
FYI: A moisture sensor is usually two metal strips mounted about half an inch apart. One strip is connected to ground. The other strip has a voltage on it.
When there is moisture between the strips, there is a current path and current flows. This current is monitored by a circuit board and it holds the timer motor off.
When the clothes are dry there is no current path so no current and the board then advances the timer to off. |
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Thanks Denman.
This makes sense, but why is it that sometimes clothes are not dry when the auto mode shuts off? and why, like in the case of these jeans, does the dryer keep going fi the jeans are dry?
Also, in the winter my wife will sometimes warm up towels for our kid when she is showering. Since the towels are already dry, why would the dryer run to 10 minutes in auto mode if there is no moisture?
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[COLOR="Blue"]This makes sense, but why is it that sometimes clothes are not dry when the auto mode shuts off?[/COLOR]
Cannot say but the heater is turning off so it may depend on ambient temperature and how wet the clothes are etc.
This set up is a guesstimate of dryness.
[COLOR="Blue"] and why, like in the case of these jeans, does the dryer keep going fi the jeans are dry?[/COLOR]
Again I do not know. There are too many variables.
[COLOR="Blue"]
Since the towels are already dry, why would the dryer run to 10 minutes in auto mode if there is no moisture?[/COLOR]
Even with dry clothes the heater must come on to maintain set point temperature so it will not always advance the timer.
Even with the heater off it still takes some time to advance the timer. This would be the same advance speed as timed dry.
Since you are now thinking about the dryer it would be a good time to check/clean your vent system if you have not done it in a year or so. |
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Originally Posted by: denman 
Since you are now thinking about the dryer it would be a good time to check/clean your vent system if you have not done it in a year or so.
good advice. I will put this on the to-do list. thanks for your help.
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