Here are your parts
Replacement parts for KENMORE 11096585200 | AppliancePartsPros.comAll the below parts are shown on the first page of the parts.
First check the power, then the heating element, then the heater's thermal fuse, then the hi-limit thermostat and finally cycling (main) thermostat.
There are other parts that can cause no heat but checking them gets more complicated.
You do not have to worry about the thermal fuse (white plastic) on the blower as this kills power to the motor.
The heating element should be around 10 ohms.
All fuses and thermostats should be 0 ohms.
Note: Your cycling thermostat has 4 wires. 2 are the contacts and should be 0 ohms. The other 2 are an internal heater (turns on to lower the operating temperature for low temp settings), should be around 25,000 ohms. It is also mounted on the blower.
The heater's thermal fuse and hi-limit thermostat are mounted close/on to the heater assembly.
If the heater's thermal fuse is blown get back to us as there are other things to check. As you can see it comes with a new hi-limit and the hi-limit should have regulated the temperature to prevent this fuse from blowing.
Power CheckTry flipping the breaker off/on slowly a couple times, sometimes you can loose half the line without actually tripping the breaker.
If this does nothing, check the voltage at the plug
L1 to L2 should be 240 volts
L1 to Neutral and L2 to Neutral, both should be 120 volts.
If OK
Unplug the unit and check the wires at the terminal strip in the machine to make sure none are loose or burned out
If OK
Check the power at the terminal strip.
[COLOR="Red"]Be careful as 240 volts is lethal !!! [/COLOR]If you do not own a meter, I would suggest you purchase a one. You can get a decent digital multimeter for under $20.00. You do not need fancy though it is nice if the leads are a couple feet long.
If it saves ordering one unnecessary part it has paid for itself and you end up owning a useful tool.
Most places will not let you return electrical parts so if you order it, you own it.
A couple things to watch when measuring ohms and continuity
1. Always remove power from the machine otherwise you could blow your meter.
2. Always disconnect at least one side of any device you are checking. This eliminates the possibility of measuring an alternate/parallel circuit path.
3. When checking for closed contacts and continuity use the lowest scale (Usually 200 ohms). Then try higher scales. This scale is 0 to 200 ohms so if the device you are measuring is 300 ohms this scale would show an open circuit which it is not, you are just measuring outside the scale's dynamic range.
There is a good STICKY at the start of this forum about it's use.