Kenmore He3 gas dryer not drying - HELP?

[revvinkevin]

I have this He3 dryer that worked beautifully until it started acting up a couple months ago. The cycle would end prematurely and the clothes wouldn't be completely dry. I'd restart the cycle and they' would be dry when it stopped the 2nd time. Someone suggested the moisture sensor bar inside was coated / gunked up because I use dryer sheets. I used an alcohol wipe pad to clean it thoroughly, but there was no change.

Recently the cycle ended and the items were still really wet (as opposed to partially dry). Today when doing laundry I removed the lower access panel to watch what happened. I started the dryer, the igniter started to glow, the gas valve clicked and the burner lit. The problem is the flame went out after 1 minute! I let the dryer run 5 minutes thinking the flame would cycle back on again, but it didn't.

I then thought it would lite again if I restarted the dryer. So I turned it off completely, opened and closed the door, then restarted it, but unfortunately, no change.

Do any of you have any ideas?

Thanks much in advance,
Kevin

 

[ea56]

Kevin,

I know nothng about repairing a gas dryer, but in the past I’ve had gas heaters and water heaters do the same thing as your describing and each time it was a bad thermo coupler that shut the gas off right after the burner cycled on. So if you dryer has a thermo coupler this may be the problem.
Eddie

 

[mattl]

I'd look at the coils on the gas valve as a culprit.  They are cheap and easy to replace, I think I paid $8 for a set on ebay a few years ago.

 

[revvinkevin]

Thanks Eddie. I honestly don't know if this has a thermocouple on it, my understanding of thermo couple is it's somewhat mechanical and I'm pretty sure the controls on this dryer are mostly electronic. But then what do I know? LOL

Thanks Matt. Yes I thought about the solenoids too, but i've had other drivers that these solenoids have failed on and it will still "goes through the motions" of trying to light (igniter glows and the valve clicks) but this one doesn't do that. When those solenoids fail, they fail completely, you get no gas or flame at all no matter how many times it tries. On this dryer the igniter cycled/glowed the first time, the valve opened and the flame lit. It did not attempt to light again during the five minutes I let the dryer continue to run.

 

[henene4]

Flame saftey system

I think there is some form of flame check system to ensure the flame is on and that there is enough airflow to draw the flame through the flame channel.

If I remeber correctly, on the opposing end of the igniter and valve, there is a thermo sensor of some sort mounted on the flame channel.
That checks if there is any heating with the gas on. If there is no heating, the dryer will think that there is some issue with the ignition or airflow and shut of the gas for safety reasons and most likely will not allow gas to flow again until a certain time has passed.

Here's a service manual for the HE3 dryers:
https://www.applianceblog.com/manuals/Duetdry.pdf
Page 59 lists a diagnostics test, maybe that'll give you some information.
The wiring diagramm on page 63 does show a flame sensor, that might be the culprit.

 

[gansky1]

That's how these act when the coils on the gas valve are bad.  Just replace the two coils (approx $12 for the pair) and you should be good to dry.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Thanks Henrik and Greg.

 

I bought some coils for another dryer, I'll install them on this one and see what happens.

 

[eronie]

Time for new coils cheep and easy fix.

 

[revvinkevin]

Update, coils replaced

I replaced the coil's on the gas valve, even though I didn't think it would solve the problem and I was right, nothing changed.

The igniter glows, the valve opens and fire lights. But it's only on about 30 to 45 seconds before going out and that's it. I was quite surprised when the igniter turned on and started to glow, then the fire lit a second time a few minutes later. But again, only stayed on for 30 or 45 seconds that it did not try again, period.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Kevin

 

[mattl]

I went through something similar a couple of years ago with my duet gas dryer.  I too replaced the coils as that is the easiest, but no luck.  I ended up replacing the gas valve -"Those never go bad..." or so I was told.  Pick up a used one of ebay and all is well.

 

I spend too much time looking at all the cut out switches and thermisters and anything electrical.