Lady Kenmore Dryer

[akronman]

This will be my first LADY K machine, "works but doesn't heat up" for $25, I pick it up tomorrow.

I'm good at repairing Whirlpool dryers, they are EASY, but I don't know much about the features or buttons on this one yet, nor its era. Info?

Thanks

Mark

 

 

[akronman]

final pic

one more, it has original paperwork

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

It looks like a 1966 - 1967 vintage.   It's auto dry only.   The 3 buttons are "Heat, Air and Start".   The knob on the right is the "dryness" setting, 1 thru 5 (or 6).   The slide lever on the left should be buzzer volume.

 

Kevin

 

[coldspot66]

That is a sensor dry LK model. Also I think it has no actual timer.

 

[akronman]

tomorrow

Thanks for the info, I'll post more shots tomorrow when it's home. and I just noticed the console light, this one will be fun. I guess I now begin my Lady K washer hunt.

 

[volvoguy87]

Element.

Check the continuity on the element, hi-limit thermostat, etc. It ought to be easy to get heating again.

Dave

 

[danemodsandy]

Not An Easy Dryer to Find:

I should know - I looked for one for quite a while when I had the matching washer. In vain, I might add.

You have a treasure there! Congrats.

 

[appnut]

It has Soft Heat, heat tapers down as the load dries. 

 

[combo52]

1966 LKM Electric Dryer

Congratulations Mark on your cool dryer find, when this dryer came out in 1966 it was without a dough the best dryer ever built for  home use anywhere in the world.

 

This dryer has two heating elements and I would suggest taking it out of its housing and examine it for faults. As Dave suggested its non heating condition could be a bad Hi limit thermostat or it could also be a bad motor centrifugal Sw., bad heat relay, push-button sw, or even a bad electronic control that is not energizing the  heater relay coil. There is also an operating thermostat that controls only the larger 4100 watt heater. The smaller 1500 watt element often failed on this dryer design but the dryer would go on working at about 75% drying speed, Keep us Posted on your progress, John.

 

[akronman]

It's home

Home, in the garage, it'll be the weekend before it's indoors and tested. So far, the door striker is broken, the hinges on the lint filter chrome door are missing, there's no bottle for air freshener in its place, but overall looks good for a 47 year old dryer.

The Craigslist gentleman said it was in his mid-60's home when he moved in 2 yrs ago, worked fine until a month ago. He had his own dryer from his previous home waiting in the furnace room, he installed it instead of repairs to this.  He said it won't heat so I need a new element, but I think he just looked at the accompanying paperwmrk without real understanding. I will check all aspects before buying anything. I got a huge handful of lint out the exhaust.

 

Picture--I have never seen moisture elements like these. Except for cleaning with a damp rag, I 've never repainted the innards of a drum.????

 

[akronman]

more

Model 110.6608910 with original paperwork, Lady Kenmore 900, I believe I've stumbled across Kenmore/Whirlpool's very TOL for 66.

Did it come in gas? I prefer gas, but have 3 hookups for electric, time to retire the DE806

 

[akronman]

drum

Drum light and a console light. The console light doesn't have a switch, I'll add one in so it's whenever, not just while running.

I'm guessing the rear bulkhead painting is baked on, my usual cabinet Rustoleum would just wear away soon?

 

[akronman]

filter

The hinge pins are missing on the filter door, looks like a pair of fine pitch sawed off allen wrenches may do the job. And the filter handle is broken, there's a wire to pull it out, that should be an easy find to replace. But it works as is. Of course there's no bottle of Air Freshener, oh well.

 

[akronman]

dial

There's 8 positions on the dial, from damp to extra dry, instructions say start on 5 and see how you like it, then the dial rarely needs to be reset ever???? With a large and small element, I'm guessing it starts on both at 5600watts, lowers to 4100 watts partway thru and then near the end uses only the small 1500 watts? It's still in the garage, I'm getting ahead of myself here with repairs.

 

[akronman]

buzzer

Signal can be shut the F^&* off! I love the beeps and buzzes, also love to shut them off if it's undies and socks and no wrinkle worries.

 

[akronman]

simple controls

not much to decide. The manual says AIR gives about 18 minutes.

 

Not much else to say until it's in the basement and plugged in. I could say I now need a 66 Lady K washer, hopefully in white. I've seen them in threads here, two rows of piano key buttons totalling maybe 10 or 12 options, damn!

Thanks for any advice and guidance, this'll be fun. My basement windows are always lit up since I leave on 1 lighted control washer and 2 lighted control dryers all the time. This will make 4 once it's downstairs.

 

[lesto]

I have this exact dryer in my basement waiting for me to have a gas line installed in my laundry room.

 

[danemodsandy]

Yes - TOL

Yes, this was the absolute top-of-the-line in 1966 for Kenmore.

The 1966 Lady Kenmore pair was something of a status symbol, because it was so obviously deluxe even if you didn't know a damn thing about laundry appliances. It was easy for someone visiting your house to miss the fact that you'd just shelled out a bunch of money for, say, Maytag 806s, but even the most ignorant Gladys Kravitz type could see that LKs were something special.

Due to the fabulous styling of LKs over the years, this one-upping continued to be possible until the later 1970s, when Sears' beancounters got all the stylists by the cojones and squeezed until every last bit of individuality was gone from different Kenmore model series.

There was a time when you didn't need Gordon to tell Kenmores apart, LOL.

 

[maytagbear]

Nice catch,

Mark!

Knowing you, you'll have it in better than new condition in short order.

(Incidentally, 31/31 for me).

Lawrence/Maytagbear