Maytag DG606 Prematurely shuts down despite incomplete drying

[d-jones]

I would be very cautious about enlarging that orifice. You'll notice that after traveling through the combustion cone the heated air enters a mixing chamber. That mixing chamber has a number of openings designed to allow non heated air to mix with the heated air on its way to the drum cover, which reduces the overall temperature of the air entering the drum. That was done deliberately by the folks at Maytag and I'm going to assume they had a good reason. As John (combo52) is fond of pointing out, the gas version of the Halo of Heat dryer is a somewhat wonky compromise design. Unlike the electric HoH dryers where the air is heated over the entire 360 degrees of the drums front end as it passes over the heating coil, on the gas versions the bulk of the heated air never makes it all the way across the drum before it enters it, so the heating is not as uniform. Since there's no way to increase air flow to match an increase in heat due to a larger orifice, it seems to me that overheating could become a real problem, especially as lint builds up on the filter. I won't tell anyone not to experiment, but if you're determined to make changes, just be sure to carefully consider the effects of those changes and stay safe.

 

[wmjpate]

Thanks for the feedback on increasing the BTUs

Thank you all. As expressed, I was just investigating. Your discussions are compelling reasons not to attempt anything but to clean out the orifice to its original design, which is what I have completed. Additionally, I saw the felt damaged on the drum below the burner tube, so I added some protection there to protect my fixes. Still waiting for parts. They sent a electric coil vs the carbon brush holder. Oh well. So I still waiting to install the remaining burner tube and brush holder parts.

 

[wmjpate]

Standing Pilot won't stay lit .... figures, right!

Got everything back together and mechanically functioning but in the back of my mind had concerns about the standing pilot which came to fruition. It will start but not keep lit even after 2 min. Is there a way to test it w/o removing it and/or is there a way to adjust the pilot flame? This component wasn't touched but for cleaning the burner control. Figures, right? I really don't want to have to pull the cabinet apart again. UGH!

Bill

 

[rp2813]

It sounds like that bizzare thermocouple could be the problem.  If the pilot stayed lit before, something may have been disturbed, or maybe the pilot flame needs adjusting. 

 

The experts here will have to advise on whether a retrofit with a standard thermocouple is possible, and if you can accomplish it via the access cover on the front panel.  It's been so long since we had our DG806 I can't remember what access is like down there.

 

[combo52]

Pilot Won'T stay Lit On A MT HOH Dryer

Hi, Your dryer does NOT have a thermocouple, MT only used a TC system on the first HOH dryers in the late 50s before going to the system your dryer has and most other manufactures used that did not have electric ignition.

 

Your dryer uses a Mercury pilot safety, the bulb at the end of the tiny SS tube has mercury in it and it is heated by the pilot flame. On the other end of the tube there is a small SS diaphragm that expands and extends a pin that holds a valve open so gas can flow whenever the solenoid is energized.

 

These MPSs get weak, this was a very common problem back in the day, I am sure I changed a few hundred of them.

 

John

 

[wmjpate]

Fini! Finished! Done! Success! Thank you all for your help!

I completed the project and my DG606 fired up, albeit not without a struggle. It took some sage advice from D-Jones to finish the task, "buy the DG606 manual on the web site!"and other significant contributions like where to find the brush holder: It was a whole other story about the vendor getting it to me.

Anyway, the final problem was a stogey thermocouple and pilot that kept shutting down when initially being lit. OF COURSE AFTER PUTTING THE CABINET BACK TOGETHER FULLY! Pulled the new burner tube out and attached pilot assembly and as recommended by the manual, clean pilot orifice, which as the primary burner orifice was partially restricted. As small copper wire, the same gauge I used for cleaning carburetors, did the trick. Reassembled the burner tube and fired it up and all is good so far.

As a point of note. the burner tube # 3-2544 appears to no longer be available so I snagged a YP33002793 (image below) that I retrofitted with a mounting bracket and redrilled a hole in the pilot assembly that would marry in line to the new burner tube.

Also, getting back to the vendor story, instead of sending me the miniscule carbon brush holder (pn: Y311538), their last one as I tried to buy 2 @ $.80 and $7 shipping, they sent me a Maytag Heavy duty Dryer Heating element (pic below) pn: WPY313538 which they told me to sell as it wasn't worth shipping back to them. All for an $.80 part.

To all, thank you. Your recommendations, concerns and advice were taken into consideration and certainly made this rebuild dooable.

 

[maytag85]

Old thread

But are there any updates on this dryer? I wonder how well it works with 25,000 btus of heat.