Hotpoint Dryer DLB2650BCLWH no heat.

[ifreemantoo]

Could use some help on determining why there is no heat in my 26 year old dryer. I'd like to save it if I can. I just replaced the matching washer the week of Christmas.

The dryer does turn on and the drum turns. Just no heat. I've torn in down and removed the drum and can see the heating coils. I'm somewhat clueless after that.

If I need to take and download pictures here I can do that to.

 

[goatfarmer]

Check for burnt wires first.

 

[akronman]

Dryer Coils

Check the coils, is there a broken turn of the spiral somewhere? That has been my luck with electric dryers, simple broken coil. But while you're in there, check all wires everywhere, to the sensors and limit switches, etc. Pictures won't hurt. Are you a good enough electrician to take the coil assembly out and test it?

 

[circlew]

Power supply

This may sound too obvious, but are you getting the full 240 volts at the outlet? With a meter or neon tester, make sure you are getting voltage between each hot and neutral or ground (120) and between the two hots (240). If there are fuses in the circuit, one of them may be blown. If circuit breakers, sometimes two single pole breakers with handle ties are used instead of a common trip double pole breaker. One of them can trip and leave the other on. Many times when a dryer has an operable motor, but will not heat, that is the cause.

 

[ifreemantoo]

Thanks to all

I'll have to get working on your suggestions and will report back.

 

[ifreemantoo]

goatfarmer

All wires look good.

 

[bajaespuma]

Lately, lots of dud dryers in my neck of the woods have been caused by those cheap coin-sized thermostats that attach to the vents, manifolds etc. that regulate high heat limit and cool down periods. You might want to enlist someone with electrical skills with a voltage meter to see if any of them are defective. We happen to have a neighbor who is an electrician and he did this for a lot of us. They're usually cheap and easy to replace especially if you have a local "do it yourself" appliance parts store.

 

[ifreemantoo]

Hmmm

Well, I've got it working. It was one of two problems: Lint blocking the blower side of the motor or a loose power cable on the terminal block that over the years vibrated loose.

However, the dryer won't turn off now unless the door is opened. Heat turns off but the drum keeps tumbling. I probably electrically shorted out the timer mechanism.

Another problem was the timer dial knob broke. So I took it off to look at it. I was able to glue the pieces together then I took a bead of ShoeGoo around where I glued the pieces back to give it strength. Works great but when I decided to see if the coils were working I forgot that I'd taken the timer mechanism off; and when I powered on it shorted against cabinet. Nice loud pop and turned off my basement lights too; CRAZY.

Any suggestions on getting automatic shut down working again would be appreciated. It's not worth replacing the timer as it costs about $250 to replace. I'd might as well just purchase a new dryer.

Also, I cut out a strip of plastic from a broken tupperware container to replace the broken strip on one half of the drum glide assembly.

Another thing was attaching the drum to the spindle. What a pain. 3 separate parts attach to the 3 bolt hole spindle which must be lined up perfectly. There must be a special tool, but my neighbor had some matching 1 inch threaded bolts, which I cut off the heads and then used two of them as guide pins.

I reattached the front and top panels. The top panel was attached loose with no screws and the front panel attached with the 2 inside top screws finger tight. I then laid the dryer on it's back on top of a 2 X 4 in order to open the top panel. The panel control box (console) on the top panel will prevent opening the top panel when on the ground unless slightly elevated on the backside near the top panel where it is hinged.

Then after laying the dryer on its back, I removed the front panel screws and panel. A friend manually secured the front panel out of the way while I set the drum back in the cabinet. I set the first bolt then removed the guide screws and replaced with the factory bolts. Worked like a charm after trying less than successful ways for about an hour.

 

[macboy91si]

Timer

I'd say it's a pretty safe bet something happened there after that kind of jolt. Does the timer move at all still? Does your dryer have the "Press Guard" switch? Doesn't sound good...

-Tim

 

[ifreemantoo]

Timer - Tim

I decided to open up the timer. I had nothing to lose but time. The hardest part was removing the lock washer on the dial knob shaft. Once I got inside it's basically a bunch of "ignition" points going on and off during each dry cycle. One of the points was frozen coming off the same terminal that was involved in the electrical short.

I took an awl and separated the points. It didn't require any real force to do so and nothing bent. I cleaned all the points with an emery board and it all works now. I checked to see that I had 3 different heat setting and 1 no heat setting. I did 2 mini dry cycles and the dryer turned off at the end of each cycle.

I'm good to go now. Thanks to everyone for your help and input.

 

[macboy91si]

Awesome

I'm glad you got it, that said, you are braver than a lot of people, myself included sometime. I wish I had more time to get into things, but I'm a fairly busy person during the week, sometimes it's REALLY nice when things just work. My GE is making me work for it now... Arghh!

-Tim