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pauly99  
#1 Posted : Tuesday, January 24, 2017 7:46:14 AM(UTC)
pauly99

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My Maytag MEDC300XW1 dryer is 2.5 years old and is an electric version. Last evening I smelled something like burning electrical wires but could not pinpoint the location. Walking around inside the house for maybe half an hour before I heard the dryer turn on and turn off 5 seconds later. It turned on and off the same way within the next couple of minutes (my wife did have it setup that it doesn't run continuously for a specified period of time). I took the dryer apart and initially see there is no lint obstruction in the dryer lint chute or hose that runs to the outside of the house (not blocked outside the house either). I have not taken off the dryer heater box (will do so when I get home). I did not see any wires which looked burnt and the tumbler belt looks fine. Where do I go from here?
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ThatGuy  
#2 Posted : Tuesday, January 24, 2017 3:19:45 PM(UTC)
ThatGuy

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I had to go on a dryer call one time where they could smell burning electrical. Before the lady called me she had called the fire dept. and they come and tore her dryer apart. They literally left it in pieces. They never did find anything and they left it like that. That's why she called me.

I checked every wire and every part. No sign of heat damage or burned insulation. It took me most of an hour to put that poor dryer back together.

I paid especial attention to the cord. I've see many cords that got too hot and started melting, but this one was OK.

After reassembly I plugged it in and started it. It ran just fine and sounded OK. After about 10 minutes of run time, I could smell burning electrical. I shut it off and looked around with my flashlight. I could just see a wisp of smoke coming off the electrical receptacle that the dryer was plugged into.

It was going bad internally and that's where all the smell was coming from. She just needed a new 30 amp 240 volt plugin and the dryer was good to go.

All I can tell you is use a really bright flashlight and check out all the wiring and look the boards over very carefully. Don't forget to check out the cord and its connections as well.
pauly99  
#3 Posted : Wednesday, January 25, 2017 8:13:48 AM(UTC)
pauly99

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Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it. So last evening I went home and spent about 30 minutes looking at the wires. I could absolutely see no burning, black, etc....
I checked the cord very carefully, where the lines plug into the dryer, the electrical outlet as well as the circuit panel and all looks good. I wanted to find a problem there but nope. I tested the continuity of several of the thermostats and fuses. The thermal fuse did seem to be sporadic so I will pick one of those up today. I tested the heating element and it came back at around 10 ohms so I believe that is good. I did remove some lint throughout the dryer but it was very minimal. The heating element coils and box was absolutely clean with no breaks in the coils. I have not opened the front of the dryer so I haven't looked at the motor. The belt does look good and I can manually (with a little strength) move the drum. The board by the on/off button looks to be in great condition. A smell seems to resonate somewhere amongst the on/off buzzer or temperature switch but maybe my sniffer is off. The plan (gulp) is to put on a new thermal switch, vacuum to clean out any lint, put everything back together and sit back with a beer to watch the dryer tumble. Any other recommendations?
pauly99  
#4 Posted : Thursday, January 26, 2017 5:22:18 AM(UTC)
pauly99

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Last evening I cleaned out the lint from the outside of the house all the way through the dryer vent hose. While there was no absolute blockage, I was flabbergasted by how much lint (in chunks) came out of that vent hose. I replaced the thermal fuse as it did not give a consistent reading on the multimeter. Put everything back together and started the dryer. It stopped within about 2 seconds. There is definitely a smell coming from somewhere within the control panel even after 2 seconds of running (timer switch? temperature switch? control panel board?). Prior to that I had the dryer plugged in for an hour without turning on and there were no issues. I need to find where the burning smell is coming from and/or be able to find what readings I am supposed to get when hooking up a multimeter to these switches.
pauly99  
#5 Posted : Thursday, January 26, 2017 6:16:41 PM(UTC)
pauly99

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Still seems to me that the burning (electrical?) smell is coming from around the control panel but I'm not positive. I removed the back cover again and restarted the dryer on air fluff mode. It ran for maybe 5 seconds and shut off. Burning smell again but I can't tell where it is coming from. I've now removed the front cover with the intention of taking a look at the motor, pulley, and rollers. Found a very small spring at the bottom of the dryer but I'm not sure where that came from.
harrishsairaman  
#6 Posted : Thursday, January 26, 2017 7:19:06 PM(UTC)
harrishsairaman

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hi Thanks for he information
pauly99  
#7 Posted : Sunday, January 29, 2017 5:54:17 AM(UTC)
pauly99

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End result was that the motor needed to be changed out. Picked one up from Sears Parts Direct for about $100. The nut on the blower was a pain in the butt to move, being that it is plastic doesn't help. Seemed like it was fused on. Eventually a blow or 5 with a plastic/rubber hammer loosened the nut. Took me an hour and a half to remove and change out. Without the issue of the fused nut, it would have been more like a 35 minute change out. The toughest problem otherwise was to get the belt back on properly while the idler arm wanted to not stay in the slats. Anywho, put everything back together and have already dried a load. Previously the dryer wouldn't run for more than maybe 5 seconds. The old motor... took the sniff test and it had that exact burning smell I smelled only a few days before. Happy with the fix as it beats buying a $600 dryer.
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