This dryer is 3yrs old and it is not blowing any air and is not heating up. Was working a couple of days ago. The drum is still working and all other electronics are working fine. How can I tell if the issue is the blower motor, heating element or might it be a sensor or other part that is causing the problem. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi
I would first check and see if you have 120 volts coming to each side of the connector block using a test meter.
If you do, then unplug the machine and open up the console to see if there is a tech sheet and trouble shooting guide in there. GE does not let folks outside of the company have much access to technical info about their dryers, but yours sounds like a classic fuse/thermostat/thermistor problem, so if the tech sheet is not helpful I would focus in that direction.
Good luck, let us know what you find out.
Applianceman is correct at his assumption. If the vent motor is bad, you would only get a quick burst of heat for about 30 seconds until the heat would cut off. They have had quite a few problems with those motors. Did you look in the vent tube to be sure there is no obstruction? You also have a squirrell cage in the front. Usually, if the squirrell cage is broken in the front, you would hear it in a noisy sort of way still turning when the dryer is shut off. I would also check the element. I would also make sure you have 240 volts coming to the terminal block on the back of the dryer, where the cord comes into it. Post what you have found. Tom ApplianceEducator.com
Did check and there is 240 volts coming in. Also there are no obstruction. Just the other day I tried the dryer again and the blower came one for about a min and I heard it spin down. When the blower was working it was also heating, but as soon as the blower stopped the heat stopped also. I am going to tear it down to get to the blower. Is there away I can test the motor? Thanks for all the help.
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Assuming nothing is blocking the motor because if comes on at first. Check for ohms across the motor windings. When you get to the motor you should see a plug with two yellow wires, two red wires, two blue wires, and a few more you don’t need to be concerned with. Unplug the plug and check ohms on the motor side of the plug. There should be approximately 14 ohm from red to red, blue to blue and yellow to yellow. If not the motor is bad. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]You can put this machine into the field service mode to view the errors here is how to do that. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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[LIST]
- [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Turn the dryer on. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
- [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Go to the home screen. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
- [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Press help. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
- [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Press and hold my cycles and back simultaneously for 3 seconds. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LIST][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Once done you can view the errors, post what it says. Note that once you exit this mode it will erase the errors so write them down. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
Wow. I just paid a Certified GE repair tech to look at the dryer and he didnt even know how to do what you just suggested. That was 85.00 down the drain. Any ways the error message that I got was “The blower is not getting up to speed. Please check replace if necessary.” I believe that, that is proof of what is going one. Any other suggestion. The reason I am asking is the “ceritifed GE repair man” stated that if he were to service the unit he would suggest replacing the Heating element and the control board. I asked why and he said that most likely they are burnt up also. From what I have read, that should not happen because once the blower stops working then the heating element only stays active for 30sec then shuts itself off to keep from burning up and also to keep from the unit catching fire. Is this correct?
I really appreciate all the info you have given so far. I am getting real confident that i can repair the unit instead of buy another dryer. Looking forward to your response.
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]I wouldn’t think the heating element is bad but it could be the inverter board or the blower motor. You can check the motor as I described above and if it checks bad replace it. The only problem is that I have seen a few motors on this model check good as far as ohms goes but end up having to replace it to get it going. In any case it can be the inverter board, the motor or the wiring in between. But unless he checked the heater and determined it to be bad I don’t think it is causing your problem. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
I will start with the motor. The inverter board is where? I was looking at the diagram on this site for my model and didnt see anything refering to an inverter board. Next question if this inverter board is bad would it give the same error message from field service mode error?
[SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]On the parts break down they call it the pcb asm-main #31 on the control and top panel. Probably the same board your service tech was thinking of changing. This board controls the blower motor and can cause the same error massage. All that error massage is indicating is that the motor is not getting up to speed not necessarily that the motor is bad. I do think the motor is the most likely cause but I can be the board as well. [/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]
Ok thank you. I will be tearing it down this weekend and will have the motor sometime next week. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for all you assistance.
I had same problem, but service mode came up fine. I put a wet towel in the dryer and set it to towels. It works, hot blowing air.
I understand more on the electrical parts but I don’t seem to know how to get to the blower motor. Which side/screw should I open to get to the blower motor? I tried the back side but I found all the side panels are fixed together. I ended up opening the top side and control panel. The blower motor appears to be at the bottom side.
Thanks for any help.
Ok I got the motor and it is installed, but now I need the belt diagram for the drum. The one that are posted at the beginning of this forum do not match the setup on this dryer. Thanks for the help.
Hooray!!! It works. Figured out the belt diagram and got it all back together. Tested works fine. Doing laundry now. I really want to thank applianceman for all is Great Knowledge and for sharing to people he could be charging. He helped me more than a “Certified GE repairman” that came to my house took 5min to start the dryer and then charged me 85.00 for the service call without tell me exactly what was wrong with my unit. Again I really appreciate all your help applianceman. I will always come back here when I need to repair an appliance.
I checked the blower wires (blue, red, yellow) and they tested 15 ohms each. The inlet thermistor is open (0 ohm), the 2 heater elements are both 18 ohms. Upon invoking the diagnostics (Back and My Cycles), it showed 3 errors:
- problem with inlet thermistor - it must be busted. Are there particular brands for GE?
- blower is not getting to speed - what could be the other problems here? all the blower motor coils tested good.
- problem with heater box - isn’t this where the heating elements are? they tested 18 ohms. I’m not sure how to test the triac at Inverter/CN16. I tested continuity on CN16 terminals 3 and 1 (red and black) and it’s 0.
Comments please? Thanks.
Can you tell where the inlet thermistor is located? I could trace it with the colored wire, though.
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Rphaunef, You are very welcome!! [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Fcid2020[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]You can access the inlet thermistor from the back of the dryer there is a small access cover. The ohm reading on the thermistor at room temperature should be around 2.27 K (can be off by +/- 5%). [/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]The heater box error can be caused by the thermistor being bad. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]The inverter board is the only thing that can cause all three of those error codes, but they could be separate problems. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]Check the ohms on the motor windings at the inverter to make sure there is not loose connection between the board and the motor. [/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]
Thanks for these additional info, applianceman. Friday morning, I found the inlet thermistor at the back. Appears to test as open. I bought a replacement and changed the part. When run, there is still no heat. Further observation when the front side was taken out shows that the blower just jerks every now and then, but did not run fully and continuously. I checked later that my old thermistor read alright, same reading as the new part. So both my thermistors (inlet and outlet) are OK, my heating elements are OK, my blower motor coils (3) are OK and no loose connections. The voltages that go to the blower motor are +5v and -5v. The only part I couldn’t check is the triac (not familiar with what the terminals should read) next to the heating elements. Any input what the reading should be? Likewise, the 2 thermostats (high limit and output safety) in the heater box appear to be OK, read 0.5 ohms.
Damn! (sorry for the language). With the inlet thermistor and the heater box OK, only one problem from GE’s list that remains - blower motor not gettting to speed. Could you confirm that the mother is defective? If it is, will you suggest shop that can fix or how can I get one?
Thanks for your help.
Correction: I was referring to *motherboard, or inverter PWB. :eek:
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]I am not sure about the triac either other than it varies the wattage for one of the heaters. The other is controlled by the heater relay on the board. So I assume if the triac were bad you would still get heat from the other heater. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]Can you tell if the blower is actually running or not?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000]I think it is either in the blower motor or the inverter. As I said before, the inverter is the only thing that will cause all three error-codes but I can’t say for sure if it is your problem or not. I have been through this before and have seen the motor check ok ohms wise so I change the inverter then still end up having to replace the motor to get it going. I have called GE technical assistance for this reason and all they tell me is to replace both, which is not helpful at all. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]