Dryer overheats, blows thermal fuse

Dryer Repair
1

My Dryer seems to be running the heater constantly. I have replace 4 thermal fuses, this time I replaced the thermostat also.
there is no lint buildup at all. the vents are sealed properly as well.

THE FIRST THING that happens is the dryer trips the circuit breaker. when I reset the breaker, THEN it blows the thermal fuse.

it is running right now on the ‘no heat’ setting, but the heating element is definitly ON.

I checked the thermal cutoff, and the high limit thermostat with a volt meter, they both are less than 1 ohm. If I checked them correctly.

although the dryer is 5 years old, I have not used it in 3 years, as this problem started three years ago, and I used a clothsline to dry my clothes till I decided to learn how to fix this problem myself.

2

While we cannot be certain, I believe your motor switch is defective, and this means replacing the motor. Fortunately for this machine it is not as expensive as other dryer motors.

After you do this be sure all of the safety fuses and thermostats work correctly.

Do not run the machine until you repair this.

Good luck and let us know what you do and how it turns out.

3

Just to add my 2 cents…

I would also check the heating element. It can be short to ground. Remove the wires from both heating element terminals and check for continuity between each terminal and ground.

Gene.

4

Good point Gene.

You certainly want to check this before spending money on a new motor.

5

well, I did use the dryer today, I dried 3 loads on the low heat setting, but once the timer did not move.
could it be a defective timer, and since it does not advance, and THAt causes the dryer to overheat on higher settings?

two of the loads went just fine. I kept a close eye and the dryer seemed to worlk normaly

6

When you did the load on low heat setting, did you use automatic or timed?

Is there any difference in the performance of the machine between automatic and timed settings.

If you problem is on automatic settings but not timed a or the problem might be in your moisture sensor system.

Anyway let us know about the performance in different settings and I think that will help us diagnose this.

7

ok, ohmmeter reading (if i am doing this right)

Thermal cutoff is = .9

High limit thermostat = 1.0

heating element is 5.0 on one post, and 6.2 on the other post

but those readings are with the thermostat connected. all I did was remove the leads to take the reading.

I have not used the automatic cycle yet, just the low heat, timer settngs.

so stupid me didnt check the heating coil before, and it WAS grounded.

after clearing the coil, there was NO continuity between post and housing.

thank you!

8

Great, glad you got it fixed and thanks for updating us.