We have disassembled an old Hoptpoint dryer (Mod. #DLL2650BALWH, Ser. #RM306638H, age unknown) & used components to build a cabinet for heating & drying animal treats we manufacture. System works fine, except for the need to re-start it every hour! Our dry times run 24 hours minimum. There are 9 wires to the timer: motor drive, flame detector, buzzer (2), wrinkle guard, heat selector switch, 110vold power, and start selector switch. Can the 60 minute timer be jumpered out? We’ve eliminated the door switch & light, turning off with 2-position on/off selector switch. Thanks in advance.
What does your insurance company think of this idea?
Interesting question. That was the reason none of the safety components from the original dryer (thermal overloads, etc.) were eliminated. All I would like to do is eliminate the need to re-start every hour. I suppose in that vein, the best option would be to extend the time interval, if that’s even possible.
Can think of a couple fairly easy ways to do this
-
Just disconnect one wire of the timer motor and tape it up.
Then it will run forever at whatever you set it. -
Disconnect the wires from the timer motor. Splice a line cord to them. Then purchase a time delay timer (like the one’s used to delay the turn on of a car’s block heater). You then plug the timer into this.
Operation would be
Set the delay timer
When the delay is finished, it will turn on the dryer timer
The dryer timer will then complete the cycle
Thanks, Denman. I hoped there might be an easy way to do it, yet be 100% safe. Sadly, I’m no appliance guru, so I don’t understand exactly how the timer functions. There are 2 wires that go to the timer motor: from terminal T and terminal C. You’re saying if I disconnect one & tape it, the timer will simply not function, yet the blower motor will still get power? Interesting.
[COLOR=Blue]You’re saying if I disconnect one & tape it, the timer will simply not function, yet the blower motor will still get power?[/COLOR]
Yes.
Timer is fairly simple. A number of cams run the contacts opening and closing them. It is the contacts that control (along with some other parts) power to the blower. The cams are turned by the motor. Stop the timer motor and the cams no longer turn. Timer stays where it is set.
[FONT=Arial]Fairly easy was an understatement, Denman! Disconnecting one wire worked like a charm. It took 24-30 hours to dry a batch of rabbit treats using 2 expensive ceramic heaters that gave us 110º maximum. Our first batch using dryer components was dry in less than 8 hours with a temperature of 200º - which we’re going to pipe into a duct in the rabbit room to reclaim some of the heat. Cutting the dry time & switching to natural gas (plus electricity to run the blower), in addition to recycling the exhaust heat, should cut our costs significantly. I was a bit surprised at the small differential temperatures between various heat settings from the dryer. Rather than Fluff-Low-Med-High, it’s more like Off-Hot-Hotter-Hottest! But the more heat the better, so we’re delighted. Again, thank you VERY much for your assistance. [/FONT]
If you have rabbits in the rabbit room do not think it is a great idea to vent the exhaust into it.
Unless you are willing to loose them all to carbon monoxide.
Or worse yet a person.
At the very least I would get a good CO monitor with a very loud alarm.
I would put in two just to be extra safe.
Or better yet vent it to the outside.
Sorry, Denman… I got my forums mixed up! I was chatting with a tech from another forum (GardenWeb) about CO levels as you & I were talking about the timer. We were initially planning on exhausting the dryer heat directly into the rabbit room, but I was thinking there might be a problem. As you pointed out, it’s CO. Coincidentally, the G/W tech had been thinking about ways to transfer the heat. I figured at the very least, I could vent the hot exhaust into a duct at the bottom of the rabbit room, with a small outside exhaust for the CO to escape. The G/W tech was talking about ducts with fins or something to assist in heat transfer. Like all our ideas, it’s a living project that moves ahead in stages. Getting a sheet metal plenum to try out should be a cheap way to see how much heat we can actually transfer, keeping in mind we keep the rabbit room below 50º unless there are newborns. The floor duct should accomplish that. Oh, and we are going to invest in a portable CO monitor that we can use both in the rabbit room, as well as in the basement part of the duplex we live in. Thanks for your assistance as well as your concern.
Hey Denman,
The converted dryer we’re using to dry rabbit cookies is working good. If anything, it may be TOO hot, so I’m going to research the manufacturer of the high temperature control to see about getting one a bit lower. I have another question for you, which I thought I’d ask directly, as opposed to posting another topic in the forum. We were considering ducting the exhaust from the cabinet top right down to the box containing the gas burner. It wouldn’t be an air-tight connection, but we’re thinking recycling the heated air right back into the combustion chamber should reduce the use of natural gas. We’ll leave 6" vent holes on top open. The only issue might be the high humidity of the air directed back to the burner, but it seems plausible. What do you think?
Thanks for your time & expertise.
Len
Hi,
So you have by passed the timer. The dryer gets to hot and now you want to vent the exhaust back into the same room the dryer is in?
Not only vent it back into the same room, but directly into the dryer cabinet itself? :eek:
It is not just a matter of higher humidity the exhaust also has less oxygen because it has burned up.
I would not recommend this as it will not only screw up your flame but also your carbon monoxide will go up considerably.