GE electric DRYER 920A1 W, Gets too Hot? Adjustments

[g3bill]

This GE dryer has two heat settings, one is economy which is very little heat, the other High. In the high setting it can get very hot to the point you cant unload dryer and must wait. It will shrink cloths if not careful and I don't really see the need to be that hot. Wondering if theres a way to lower the temperature or cut off. Maybe set back the moisture sensor? Any thoughts if familiar with electric dryers appreciated. I dont know if both elements heat on High or just the longer one ans short one for economy, guess both could be on in High setting? If so might switch wiring? Bill

 

[tomturbomatic]

It appears that you have 4 heat setting buttons, one of which is economy. Economy simply puts the heating element(s) on 120 volts so it reduced the heater wattage to one fourth of what it is on 240 volts. If you have more than one heat, you would have two heating elements because selecting low heat on a GE dryer usually cut one heater out of the circuit so that the heating was slower. What are the other heat selections? Does the dryer have an auto dry cycle or is it just timed drying cycles?

Is this overheating on the automatic cycle? That would sound like over drying. Is someone setting the control too far towards Heavy?

There are things that can happen like the timer losing the cool down for the last 3 minutes of the auto dry cycle or the operating thermostat could stop working and a dryer could cycle on the high limit thermostat which would make it too hot. You can check the operation of the cool down portion of the timed or auto dry cycle by turning timer of a cold dryer into the auto dry cycle, then slowly turning it back to where you hear the click just before OFF. Start the dryer at this point and check when it turns off to see if it heated. If it did, then the clothes feel hot because they don't go through the cool down.

 

[g3bill]

Didn't know there was a cool down, Hummmm... Things to check then... It has both automatic which is all we use and a timed cycle ? Auto Fast dry, auto Economy Heat not a very fast dry. Trying to post pics....

 

[g3bill]

[No message]

 

[g3bill]

"[It appears that you have 4 heat setting buttons, one of which is economy. Economy simply puts the heating element(s) on 120 volts so it reduced the heater wattage to one fourth of what it is on 240 volts. If you have more than one heat, you would have two heating elements because selecting low heat on a GE dryer usually cut one heater out of the circuit so that the heating was slower. What are the other heat selections? Does the dryer have an auto dry cycle or is it just timed drying cycles?

Is this overheating on the automatic cycle? That would sound like over drying. Is someone setting the control too far towards Heavy?

There are things that can happen like the timer losing the cool down for the last 3 minutes of the auto dry cycle or the operating thermostat could stop working and a dryer could cycle on the high limit thermostat which would make it too hot. You can check the operation of the cool down portion of the timed or auto dry cycle by turning timer of a cold dryer into the auto dry cycle, then slowly turning it back to where you hear the click just before OFF. Start the dryer at this point and check when it turns off to see if it heated. If it did, then the clothes feel hot because they don't go through the cool down.]"

ANSWER TO REPLY ABOVE;
We almost always use the Auto cycle

With the heavier cloths I usually set it to max dry. sometimes its ok and sometimes damp even if set to Heavy, but the times it gets real hot seems not right and I suppose its mostly in summer? Guess the machine isn't really automatic, just gets you close. Many times things like cottons arent fully dry and have to give an extra 5 min.

 

[appnut]

How are you sorting laundry.  If the load is a mixture of various fabric weights, drying will be uneven.  The lighter weights will dry qickly and leave the others still dampo.  On my old GE dryer, I always dried like weight fabrics together.  When even set on regular degree of dryness, things over dried.   So I started at the less dry point on the dial and worked my way toward the "regular" dryness level until I found what worked best for each type of load.  Max dry on loads of towels cooked them.  And that's when I began experimenting and adjusting degree of dryness on the dial to give me the results expect4ed.  Cannot always judge by what dial says and what the results are.  Especially with older dryers.  This dryer doesn't have an electronic sensor.  These Compensated Control dryers executed their task differently.  Tomturbomatic has explained how they do they task in the past.  Put bluntly, sounds like you may have too high expectation if you're drying loads with a whole range of fabric weights, even if they are all cotton.  I learned all this from a neighbor when I was abut 12 when she complained her Kenmore dryer was over drying and under drying on the auto dry cycle.  And the Sears repair guy told her to wash & dry uniform weights of fabrics.  Problem solved. 

 

[tomturbomatic]

This dryer used a time/temperature auto dry system with a bit more sophistication in the control than the basic GE time/temp auto dry which has far less space between delicate and regular. As Bob said, there is no moisture sensor. It gives better drying performance with mixed loads than the dryers that use a moisture sensor, but it has its limits. I believe I remember reading in our owner's manual that there is an adjustment for the Compensated Control thermostat behind the name plate just above the door opening. Unplug the dryer before you go into it, but I believe you will find an adjustment screw where you can raise or lower the temperature. If you find this, make only small adjustments. It might help.

I am puzzled that even though it sometimes gets too hot, clothing is not drying completely. How long has it been since the front of the dryer has been removed and the entire pathway for the air, out to the vent cap has been vacuumed and the blower impeller and housing cleaned? A dryer of this age, ca. 1966, is certainly a candidate for it. If the air path is partially blocked, it could force the dryer to be cycling the heat on the high limit thermostat, especially with a heavy load which would give poor uniformity in performance.

In the worst case scenario, the operating thermostat could have become erratic. I don't know what the odds are of finding another so let's hope it is just a matter of some overdue maintenance.

 

[g3bill]

Might be my Bad!

appnut, sounds like thats the problem cause usually I put everything together to get it done quickly. I know my mom put a light load in the other day thinking it was set on economy but was on fast dry and she said cloths were very hot but I dont know where she set the dial on auto. I dried a pair of jeans and a towel last night on fast dry then set dial to end of heavy, both dried perfect? Seems like hit or miss so must be the way I'm setting dial perhaps, I'll have to set it lower on lighter loads and like you say work my way up. Also think we need to keep a better eye on the filter getting coated with anti static sheet gunk.

 

[coldspot66]

Could be a venting problem.

 

[appnut]

Good Bill.  I wish dryer sheets would be outawed.  They are a fire hazard due to buildup in as you see the filter as well as the dryer venting and exhaust.  Impact dryer performance. Not sure what damp dry would do with light weght loads.  Maybe that would help not overdry also with adjusting dryness level but using damp dry button.  Experiment.  I don't pay attention to labels on control becaue I know what I want and expect and adjust setting to yield what I'm expecting--like I eluded to above.

 

[g3bill]

Tom, think you hit it on the head. I haven't done much in years to clean the air ducts or impeller? Last year I was having a problem of the unit shutting down and found it was from overheated motor, I blew it out and lots of dust or felt ejected from the motor and haven't had that problem since.

 

[g3bill]

"Control thermostat behind the name plate just above the door opening" I saw this years ago but left it alone. So how does this work? would setting it lower take longer to dry or limit the drying at end of cycle. Not changing anything till its all cleand out.

Any tips on cleaning a dryers inners?

This dryer has given great service over the years with some repairs. 2 or 3 belts, 1 idler pully, patched a heating element, & replaced the two pads the drum spins on with teflon or nylon a few years ago, also the rear bushing the drum shaft runs on, that was a factory cheesy piece of card, what a joke and the noise would drive ya nuts, glad that I modified that, no more oiling every few months.

 

[bendixmark]

overheating

When I used to repair these drywers in the 70s they were famous for having erratic operating thermostats,they would be fine some loads and others the dryer would get blasting hot.I would replace the operating thermostat.Old thermostats commonly become erratic or fail as a matter of safety I would definitely replace it.

 

[washerlover]

I had a mid-70s GE dryer with the same problem -- loads scorching hot that you couldn't touch them. Eventually the motor overheated and gave out. Didn't think of the dryer sheet gunk being a problem. Thank God I don't use those things -- just good ol' Downy liquid fabric softener!

 

[g3bill]

THANKS MARK

I never would have thought the thermostat would go bad so often on these machines. I should see if there still avalible? First I'll be cleaning the ducts, so far its working well on auto dry.

It looks like my mom is listening and only using half sheets in each load especially after I told her of a fire from its use costing thousands in damage to a house. Good shock treatment to comply.

I think everyone should blow out there motor every few years, it was amazing how much felt or dust I blew out with my air compressor and a air nozzel thingy. After that the motor never over heated and stopped again.