Corrosion Repair: Maytag Dryer Pilot Access Panel

[d-jones]

This is just a quick post for anyone that has this issue on one of their vintage machines. The gas pilot flame does a fair amount of damage over time, and if you're a nut case perfectionist like me it'll bug you until it's fixed. The panel seen in photo one is pretty typical of what can happen.

 

In photo two, now that the placard is removed you can see how it protected the metal behind it from the damaging effects of the standing pilot.

 

Photo three - Here's the placard safely removed and ready for reuse. To get it to let go of the panel I used lighter fluid to soften the adhesive and slowly lifted it off. It's made of some kind of sturdy plastic or vinyl material and ended up with slightly wavy edges due to some mild stretching, so I placed it between sheets of copy paper(about five below and three above)and pressed it using an iron on the lowest setting. That tightened it back up and properly stuck it to the paper for safe keeping. (By the way - I have a detailed scan of this label for anyone that wants it)

 

In photo four the bead blaster has removed all traces of corrosion and old paint. You can see where the zinc coating has failed completely in some areas.

 

Finally, in photo five the inside of the panel has been primed, sanded, repainted, baked and polished, and is now ready for the label to be reapplied. But that'll have to wait until after the other side of the panel and the entire cabinet are repainted.

 

[gansky1]

Yes, you appear to be a perfectionist! Lol - good for you, I wish I were more of one since I admire this attention to detail. Which Maytag dryer are you working on? I've seen some pretty sad insides of Maytag standing-pilot dryers after a few decades of the pilot fumes. Do you leave your pilots burning 24/7 or just light them as needed?

 

[jeff_adelphi]

Remember when---

The gas company said to keep your pilots burning all year? They said the small bit of heat would prevent rusting of an appliance.

 

[d-jones]

Gansky

This'll be used on an HDE806 that's being converted to a HDG806 to match my HA806 washer. You may remember I picked up a really nice one about a year ago that I tried to give away with no luck at all. So rather than scrap it I decided to convert it. I have an HDG406 that was headed to the scrapper that all of the missing parts will be taken from - along with the Harvest Gold front panel with the gas door. But I also still need to paint the cabinet on my parents DG906(seen below minus the cabinet) to match their Harvest gold washer, so I'll paint both cabinets at the same time. Since neither of these machines is currently assembled the pilot light question isn't applicable, but I'd like to convert them to electronic ignition if I can.

 

 

[this post was last edited: 3/13/2015-12:19]