Kenmore dryer heater

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I’ve seen

worse than that amount of lint with a dryer that was still heating.
But still nice to get all that out.
Best to use a multimeter to test things out before replacing parts or even plugging into your outlet.
If you take the cabinet apart and take out the drum, your app to find lots of lint.
You want to get that out and off the electric motor (old toothbrush) vacuum.
I used a leaf blower once to really clean it good!
Let us know of your progress.
HTH
 
Not always!

For safety's sake, always remove the power source when first troubleshooting the dryer. You want to check the thermostats first to see if they are working and will allow the electricity to flow thru them to power the element and heat the dryer.

No power is required to do that. Also, you would want to check the element itself to see if has continuity thru it too.

If you are taking the machine apart, take pictures of where all the wires go and maybe label them as well.

If you remove the heater box, you may be able to look inside it and see if there are any breaks in the wires. If there are no breaks, then we need to go further.

It will probably be easier for you to check youtube on how to use a multi meter than to explain all of its functions here.

You should first remove the back of the dryer and check the most obvious thing, like a broken wire or broken connection. It may be a simper fix than you think.

You have my cell number so if you want to do a video and send it that would be fine with me or do a facetime call.
 
Good idea to take double pictures BEFORE removing parts so you'll have something to look back on later when putting it back together.

Especially helpful for electric wiring and small detail parts. It's not usual to mix up a black wire with a dk. brown wire, for example, and ...ewww, the results.

Plus if you have questions along the way, with pictures we here can most likely help.
 
Hopefully yours doesn't have a mouse nest in it.

I bought a relatively new Estate (Whirlpool made) dryer from Menards a couple years back, for $19.

It looked good and worked good, but thought I'm going to check the inside JUST IN CASE....

It's a good thing I did as right near the middle, a busy mouse had built a towering nest that, oddly, was all stuck together. With all the moving of the appliance it didn't distort. Apparently the humidity from the basement the dryer had been in glued the mess together. It wasn't quite as bad as the picture but....

Fortunately I opened it up outside, removed the control panel, the top, the front, the back, and pulled out the drum. When disconnecting the belt I could see there was a mess. There was no indication that the mouse had been in any other part of the machine. I propped the dryer up so it slanted to the front, got a hose, and protected the motor with a plastic bag. Then took the hose, some soap, and a scrub brush and cleaned all the crap out. Also bleached it.

Good as new after letting it dry a few days and putting it back together.

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Wow. No mice here phew

I took off the back and removed the heating element box. It was packed with lint. I vacuumed it all out. The bottom of the dryer had about 2” of lint. I thought it was insulation at first. I’ll take some pics today. I ordered a meter to check the voltages on the spots you Guys told me to check.
I did order a new heating element. I’m going to attempt to paint the dryer black to match my washer.
 
It sounds like they used the dryer in tight confines with NO vent attached. As a result, all the loose lint became airborne and was sucked back inside the dryer. That's a significant fire risk. If the heater box was filled that could have easily caught on fire.

The smell you were referring to was the partial incineration of lint particles. I wouldn't be surprised if the drum was discolored from that.

How do you intend to try and paint this?

For what it's worth; these did not originally come in black or avocado as avocado was no longer being used for most appliances by 1985.

If you're thinking canned spray paint...I wouldn't. It rarely turns out good and looks crappy. Large areas like an appliance need to be professionally done with a paint sprayer.

A simpler solution: could do black panels in certain areas such as the door front and the inset part of the top. You could wrap it or use a black gloss or black wood contact paper.

Carefully cut the paper corners to match the top corners before applying. The door you can easily remove, disassemble and wrap the door folding the paper over the edges. Then reassemble and put the handle back in.

Wouldn't take long or cost much and worse case, if you don't like it, it's easy to remove. The almond color would be a good combination for the black vs. a stark white paint.


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I would take that heater outside and blow the remaining pieces of lint out of the coil or those too will burn up and stink.
I would also take the box outside and hose it out, maybe take some soap and a scrub brush to get any other lint out of it. Then let it dry thoroughly before reinstalling.
 
Model

Yes its the Model from the very first pic. 110.86581810.

I scrubbed the bo like crazy its acutally shiny and new looking now, doesnt smell burnt anymore, the drum still stinks some, it neds painting too, or a replacement on
 
I take it the 2nd dryer is standard capacity. In other words it has a flat back?

If not, it's possible the drum is interchangeable.

With the drum you have it should come reasonably clean with a good cleaning...scrubbing with backing soda and a sponge. Rinse it with water outside. The same goes for the back of the dryer drum and the inside of the door. They all should be thoroughly cleaned.

As for painting them... that's tricky because the paint job needs to resist wear or the paint will just come off on your clothing.

If it were me, I'd search craigslist and get a cheap(perhaps not working) newer whirlpool made dryer to use for the innards: the back wall, the drum, and possibly the inner door. They are often plentiful, white and clean, and parts are compatible.

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In general YES. You will need to check that the mounting holes line up. Worst case scenario you may have to cut or drill new holes. A minor task compared to all the other stuff you were considering.
 
Wiring.

It will be easiest if you look at the console and the entire wiring as all one piece. There's no need to worry about making splices.
Just fish the wiring out of the older model. remove the wires from the motor, the door switch, the incoming wire block, remove the sensor screws and just leave them attached to the wiring, and you've already got the wires off the heater.

Then just pull them up through the top and move them over to the newer machine.

Don't forget to snag the original model # tag off the almond dryer.
 

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