Need gas valve for 1981 Lady Kenmore Heavy Duty Plus model 110.87394100 gas dryer

[havlock]

The dryer my parents bought the year I was born and has worked faithfully for nearly 40 years stopped drying our clothes for the first time ever a few weeks ago. Looking underneath, the glow plug in the gas outlet would heat up, but no gas would come out. Appliance tech came out, inspected and tested the machine and declared the coils in the valve were shot.

My father decided to order a replacement dryer, but I know in my bones that new machine'll die within five years. So, is there any place I could get a replacement gas valve for this dryer, either original part or suitable after market? The new dryer is to be delivered on May 26th, so I have that long to get it before they haul off the old dryer to be scrapped.

Included image is of the model/serial ID plate inside the dryer door.

 

[akronman]

Ebay coils

Get into your dryer first and visually inspect that these are correct. It's an easy fix, and cheap. While you're in there, get all the lint out you can, and try to get a few drops of oil into the motor bearings.

Kenmore Gas Dryer Coils for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for Kenmore Gas Dryer Coils at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

 

[arbilab]

Coils are prone to failure, sold and easily installed separately from the valve body.

 

[havlock]

I asked my father what the appliance tech said, since my dad was the one home to deal with the tech, and the tech said replacement coils for this model of gas valve aren't sold and they can't get them.

 

[repairguy]

The dryer is an 83 model built the 31st week of 1983. Depending on the technicians ability (some don’t know what they are doing), it could be the radiant flame sensor.

 

[DADoES]

 
Parts diagram seems to show the coils originally as a separate P/N 685947 but it's apparently NLA and the replacement now is the entire burner assembly with coils, P/N 279894.

Several sources (three linked below, there are others) list the replacement but say it's out-of-stock or backordered (not NLA) with a range of delivery dates ranging from "contact us for estimate" to 5-6 days, to 14-day special order, to a month.

PartsDr.com

AppliancePartsPros.com

RepairClinic.com

Perhaps there are substitute coil kits that will work.  I don't know gas dryers.

The eBay link above doesn't work for me.  Try this one.

eBay search - kenmore dryer gas coils

 

[akronman]

I fixed my link

I dont know what was wrong with my first posting, it's supposed to be Ebay for KENMORE DRYER COILS

Kenmore Dryer Coils for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for Kenmore Dryer Coils at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

 

[arbilab]

<blockquote>
tech said replacement coils for this model of gas valve aren't sold

</blockquote>
Sorry, some of my data from the 00s has become obsolete as most mfrs cutback on parts to force new purchases. 

 

What once was unethical is the new 'good business'.

 

[coldspot66]

If the part # you are looking for, is the old style wired solenoid 279137, I do have a nib coil kit.

 

[combo52]

Bad Dryer Gas Burner Coils On A Pre 1984 Dryer

WP changed to an easier to replace coil design in 1984 and still use it today.

 

These older dryers used a different coil design from 1970-1983 which is getting harder to get but they are still around if you look.

 

Many times we rebuild a newer style post 1984 burner assembly and just change the whole assembly out is the dryer is still in good shape.

 

There are still a few good new dryers out there that will last over 30 years without electronic controls, A SQ Gas Dryer could easily last 30-50 years and is built of even heavier metal than your great 1983 Kenmore dryer.

 

A 150 pound person can even stand on the top of a new SQ dryer without bending the top unlike even the top of your 83 KMD.

 

John L.

 

[havlock]

Found Sears Partsdirect has a replacement gas valve assembly for sale and in stock that they say would work in my model of dryer: https://www.searspartsdirect.com/product/31zj61wbk4-0026-110/id-685947 However, I don't see how this would fit together with the gas pipe and shutoff valve in my unit since the original gas valve was longer side to side. So I don't know how this would hook together. Could any of you figure this out?

Also, in case I can't convince my dad to keep this dryer, do any of you know of anyone or any business in or near Cedar Rapids, Iowa who'd take this gas dryer, either to repair or part out. I'm not asking for any money, I just want someone to take it off my hands who'll do better than chuck it in a scrap metal crusher.

 

[havlock]

Finally got the coils out and I can tell why Kenmore went with a new design a year later. I can't figure out how to check the resistance of each of the three coils individually without either snipping wires or yanking them out of the crimped wire nuts. If y'all has any ideas how to do this without doing that, let me know.

Also, my dad and me are wondering how this dryer uses the flame sensor to detect when to open the gas valve. There's a circuit diagram for the burner assembly on a sheet included in the control panel hood for repair techs, but we can't figure out how it works. I've attached a photo in hopes y'all can tell us how it works.

 

[qsd-dan]

Check for continuity at the terminals of the flame sensor. There's a little window on the flame sensor that can get blocked with lint overtime which prevents the ignitor from glowing. Clean any lint from the window. In rare instances, the flame sensor can internally short out which will pass the continuity test and the ignitor will glow but prevents voltage from reaching the gas coils (learned this one the hard way over 15 years ago).

 

[havlock]

Qsd-dan, is that checking continuity across the flame sensor itself or the leads to the flame sensor?

Also, when the dryer was still hooked up, I ran it and watched the burner to see what was happening as it was starting a cycle. When it got to when it should have turned on the gas burner, the only thing that happened was the igniter turned on and glowed for a short period, then turned off again. From what I've read and watched online, I thought that indicated the flame sensor is working, but what would you say?

 

[havlock]

I tested the continuity on both the flame sensor itself and the leads to it, as well as wiped off the flame sensor window. The flame sensor had continuity and the leads did not have continuity between themselves, but did have a resistance of 680 ohms.

 

[qsd-dan]

If the flame sensor has continuity, a clean window, and the ignitor is cycling, faulty gas coils are most likely the culprit.

 

Sorry bud, back to square one. I just wanted to confirm in case it was an easier fix.

 

[qsd-dan]

A 150 pound person can even stand on the top of a new SQ dryer without bending the top unlike even the top of your 83 KMD.

 

I used to regularly climb and stand on my '81 Kenmore dryer with zero issues. Same with the Maytag fleet except I won't stand on a washer lid.

 

I lightly leaned over my grandmothers 2003 Kenmore dryer to grab something above on the shelf and put a nice crease on the upper top front panel. Extremely thin metal on those cabinets and that was 18 years ago. I'm sure they're even flimsier now.

 

[coldspot66]

I have a new wired coil kit, part # 279137 for this style valve.

 

[havlock]

My dad snipped one of the wires that made the circuit loop back around the three coils so he could test the continuity of each one and determined that the failed coil is the larger one of the pair of stacked large and small ones; The one that was replaced with a three contact single coil unit in the later, 1984, design. So if I could get just that coil, we could splice it back in.

coldspot66, is the coil kit for the pre- or post-1984 redesign of the gas valve used in Kenmore gas dryers of similar model to mine? Because I have a 1983 model and it uses three coils; One short one with a larger one stacked on it and a single one as tall as the other two combined that has two leads. The later design has just two coil units, one with two contacts, one with three.