I am trying to troubleshoot my gas dryers “no heat” problem and am confused as to how to check the continuity of my gas valve soleniods. They are the plug in variety that has three prongs onto which a plastic plug goes. I don’t know which two of the three prongs to connect the multimeter leads to.
I also would like to remove the entire burner assemby to make any part replacement easier or to have better access to the burner. Is there a way to remove the drum to get at the burner?
Remove the front panel to access the valve.Open the dryer door and look up at the 2 or 4 screws that hold down the top. Remove them and raise the top. Remove the screws holding the front and and get it out of your way. remove the rear access panel take the belt loose from the idler. Remove the small access panel near the center of the rear bulkhead and get the Clip that holds the drum off. The drum will now come off. Clean up the dryer. Checking them coils for continuity is tricky. If you suspect they are faulty replace them. I check the gas assembly with burner by placing it on my bench. I connect gas to it and and I connect a suicide cord to the quick plug. I make sure the flame sensor wires are not touching each other or anything that may short out. I power up the gas assembly and touch the 2 flame sensor wires together. This gets the ignitor going. When the ignitor is glowing I seperate the flame sensor wires and gas should come out of the valve and ignite onto the burner. I remove power and repeat this step 5 times to make sure the coils don’t get hot and quit which by the way they do quite often. The number one problem is the ignitor. Followed by the flame sensor, followed by those coils in question. Note: if nothing happens look at the flame sensor first. If the sensor is ok then the dryers fuse is blown due to excess lint buildup in the dryer.
Here is the flame sensor[ATTACH]397[/ATTACH]If this part has NO continuity(open) then the Ignitor will never glow. This guy allows the ignitor to glow but the coils cannot open the valve because that old ignitor hogs all the juice. So this sensor when it gets hot it opens and kills the power to the ignitor. That causes a surge of power to them coils and they snatch open the gas floodgates . The result? Raw gas hits that cherry red ignitor and Kawoosh you have flame. The heat builds inside the dryer. The dryer drum gets hotter and hotter. The drum temp control on the blower housing decides enough! and the gas assembly shuts down. But the drum keeps a chugging along. flame sensor.jpg (1.9 KB)
This is the ignitor[ATTACH]398[/ATTACH]Unplug the quick connect and check it for continuity. If this guy is open the dryer will run but the heat will never come on. a igniter.jpg (2.8 KB)
look for the fuse on the bulkhead[ATTACH]399[/ATTACH]The dryer will run but there will be no heat if this dude is open(no continuity) WE4X800.jpg (1.9 KB)
These guys right here:[ATTACH]400[/ATTACH] will decide to become IFFY. That is if they are cool they will work but when they get hot they quit. Change these puppys they are less than $20 at the appliance parts pros online. They are easily replaced by remove 2 phillips screws and unplugging their quick connects. They cant be mixed up because they look the same but are slightly different. dryer coil kit.jpg (1.8 KB)
