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Whirlpool Cabrio Dryer blew thin Thermal fuse for 2nd time
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I have a Cabrio dryer that decided to blow the thermal fuse today. I pulled the back cover off and pulled the lint housing. It was a little dirty but nothing drastic. I cleaned everything out and replaced the fuse with one from a parts dryer that I had. After putting it back together, I started it up and it worked. The dryer ran for about 20 minutes and I had this suspicion that the tube going outside was plugged. I pulled the vent tube from the floor (it exits into the floor). After doing this, I could tell a difference in sound and what not with the dryer. So... I left to tube off to the side to finish the load of laundry. I turned the utility room vent fan on to keep room temp down. The dryer ran for 45 minutes and when the towels were dry I removed them and started a 2nd load. When I went to hit the start button.. Nothing.. It is now back to doing what it was doing before. So tomorrow I will get a multimeter and start checking things but I am assuming its that thermal fuse again.
Anyone have an idea why this would have blown? I could see if I had left it into the house vent but I didnt. The house vent tube is rather long from the floor in the utility room to where it exists outside of the house. Any thoughts??? :confused:
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Joined: 7/27/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,395  Location: near the middle of nowhere Was thanked: 24 time(s) in 24 post(s)
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Drying is all about heat and airflow. Restricted or plugged venting causes most dryer problems.
Make sure you have clean venting all the way out. Don't use flexible plastic venting ever. Limit the number of 90 degree elbows used and make sure all vent is at least 4 inch.
Running the vent into same room is OK for testing, but will cause all kinds of problems.
Replace the T-fuse and clean out the venting and that should fix it.
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Should I be looking at anything other than the thermal fuse? My concern is that I have something else. As noted in original post, I cleaned everything out and had the vent tube detached. I had the room exhaust van on. The room was warm but I didnt believe it was too warm.
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Check the thermal fuse and if it did blow out again, then check to see if there is a short circuit between the heating element and it's case. If there is this would cause the element to stay on continually thus possibly over heating and blowing out the fuse.
Another big reason may be the thermister not operating properly. It is the one next to the fuse on the exhaust. When the exhaust reaches 155 to 165 degrees that thermal resistor should reduce its resistance and the control panel will then cycle off the heating element.
That is two possibilities.
Another random thought is the replacement fuse from the parts dryer may have been going bad as well....
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Originally Posted by: brobriffin  Check the thermal fuse and if it did blow out again, then check to see if there is a short circuit between the heating element and it's case. If there is this would cause the element to stay on continually thus possibly over heating and blowing out the fuse.
Another big reason may be the thermister not operating properly. It is the one next to the fuse on the exhaust. When the exhaust reaches 155 to 165 degrees that thermal resistor should reduce its resistance and the control panel will then cycle off the heating element.
That is two possibilities.
Another random thought is the replacement fuse from the parts dryer may have been going bad as well.... Thanks for the reply.. As for the thermal fuse possibly going out, this did cross my mind. I was under the impression that a good fuse was a working fuse. Now, one thing that I did notice earlier in my work. I put a jumper on the thermal fuse (the first time it went bad). I started up the dryer to verify this was infact bad because I did not have a multi-meter present. The dryer started up. BUT.. I noticed the heating element went from off to glowing read almost instantly. Is this normal? At room temp, the thermister is reading at or around 11 ohms. Not sure what I am looking for with the heating element and the case. I removed the case from the dryer. Everything appears to be intact and I am not finding any coils touching the casing. The wires appeared to be connected properly and nothing touching anywhere that I would suggest a concern. Another thing that just crossed my mind, the thermal fuse that I pulled was from a different model Whirlpool. I wonder if there are different specs. The fuses looked identical on the outside but I did not verify part number.
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Yes those thermal fuses are the same. And it is possible (not definite) the old fuse was overheated previously and ready to go bad.
To check if there is a short between the element and its case place one probe of your multimeter on the case and the other on each terminal of the heating element. If you show continuity with either terminal and the case then the element is shorted out and needs to be replaced.
The thermister reading at room temp is what I would expect. Just above 10kΩ at 75° is proper. If the thermister is heated to 95° the reading should drop to around 6.5KΩ
To see if your dryer is operating at the correct cycling temps, place a meat thermometer into the exhaust transition hose near the back of the dryer and leave the end of the hose open to the room, not connected to the vent in the floor. Run you machine on the high heat setting. Your temp should run up to around 155° - 165° then back down to 125° - 135° Make sure also there is good air flow out of the exhaust as well.
If it runs up way beyond 170° then shut it down to perform the previously mentioned test.
If all those tests show normal the Electronic control board might be bad, the heater relay may be stuck in the on position.
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Rank: Member
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Originally Posted by: brobriffin Yes those thermal fuses are the same. And it is possible (not definite) the old fuse was overheated previously and ready to go bad.
To check if there is a short between the element and its case place one probe of your multimeter on the case and the other on each terminal of the heating element. If you show continuity with either terminal and the case then the element is shorted out and needs to be replaced.
The thermister reading at room temp is what I would expect. Just above 10kΩ at 75° is proper. If the thermister is heated to 95° the reading should drop to around 6.5KΩ
To see if your dryer is operating at the correct cycling temps, place a meat thermometer into the exhaust transition hose near the back of the dryer and leave the end of the hose open to the room, not connected to the vent in the floor. Run you machine on the high heat setting. Your temp should run up to around 155° - 165° then back down to 125° - 135° Make sure also there is good air flow out of the exhaust as well.
If it runs up way beyond 170° then shut it down to perform the previously mentioned test.
If all those tests show normal the Electronic control board might be bad, the heater relay may be stuck in the on position. I take my multi-meter and set OHMs to 200, I get 9.5 across posts (terminals) on heating element. I take meter @ 200 and place one probe on terminal and one on casing, I receive OL - no change. Thermistor - @ 20k OHMs, 69 degree room temperature, I receive 11.6 OHM's. I will go ahead and do what you mentioned and see what temps I get. Thanks for your help.
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I wasn't able to get ahold of a meat thermometer to check temperature. I purchased a new thermal fuse today and installed it. I ran 1 load and when dryer shut off, I went to put new load in. Pressed start and nothing... :( :(
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Did the fuse fail with or without the vent hose connected to the outside venting???
I am very interested in determining the cause. Please keep us informed when you get the thermometer and what the temp readings are. Of course after you get another fuse.
The fusible link in the thermal fuse is set to (fail) open at 196° and is not re-settable so if another one has blown I wonder if it is not cycling off.
Have you tried running the dryer in fluff (no heat mode) to see if it still heats up?
I wish I lived near you, my OCD isn't letting me get rest until I find out what your solution is......
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 11/22/2016(UTC)
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This was with the vent detached from floor. My utility room is approximately 8x5 with a ceiling vent. I had the dryer running with vent on and door left open. With the door open, it felt like a sauna in there. Our living room is off from the utility room and the windows were pretty steamed up. My house, 1900 sq ft was pretty humid.
When I got to check the clothes, they were dry and HOT.. Even though the dryer was off, I suspect it still had time left in its cycle. The progress meter was wrinkle shield. This tells me the dryer stopped during the cycle but the controls thought the dryer still had time yet. I do not recall seeing any time showing on time left.
I receive a code. I have seen AF appear on display, which means air flow. I believe the other code is F25.
I will get a thermometer from my mom tomorrow after Thanksgiving. I will post my results.
I am also thinking about hauling this out and replacing it with another dryer in the garage. This is the one where i got my fuse from. Its an older (much simplier) Whirlpool. It ran fine except it produced no heat. I thought about checking this to see what it needs.
Thanks again for your help.
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Whirlpool Cabrio Dryer blew thin Thermal fuse for 2nd time
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