Pathetically slow Kenmore Dryer

[ttuee2006]

When I moved to this house in 2006, the original appliances conveyed with the house. It was built in 1999, and I'm assuming the washer and dryer were bought when the original owners moved in.

The washer and dryer were Kenmore and were matched, but of course the washer being a Shredmore died a painful death and was replaced 2 years ago. The dryer lived on, but only just so.

The problem I've got its that it takes an ETERNITY to dry the clothes. We're talking 1 hour plus for a relatively small load of laundry here! The model is a Kenmore 110.68702894 It's a Kenmore "70 Series".

I've checked it for blockages internally, and found nothing. In fact it was quite clean! The original ductwork was hideous, but it has been replaced with rigid ducting that seems to have helped very little. The airflow is much better, but the drying still takes forever.

The thermostats seem to check fine with a multimeter (nothing's open) and the element seems to be fine too since it obviously heats. The wild thing is that it dries the load about 1/2 hour faster if I use the "low" temp setting instead of "hi".

It claims to have the "soft heat" system which I don't know anything about (We were a Maytag family) and just doesn't seem to get the job done. I've had to replace the drum support rollers THREE TIMES (that's right.....3 times) since I moved here due to them wearing out and having the drum rubbing on the frame.

I'm getting really sick of the dryer, but don't have the money really budgeted to get another one right now. Is this one even worth fixing, or do they all dry like this?! I'm sure it should dry faster than it does.....right?! I'd expect this kind of performance out of a GE dryer, not a Kenmore/Whirlpool!

 

[pulsator]

What kind of washer is paired with it now? How fast does that washer spin? I've had friends replace their dryers because they were taking forever only for me to discover that they only used the Permanent Press cycle on the washer which has a low speed spin of about 350 RPM!

 

[appnut]

Soft Heat on these dryers means on auto dry as well as timed dry, the temperature is automatically (by the timer--a knotch actually) shifted to low/delicate the last few minutes of the heat portion of the cycle before the cooldown phase is begun.

 

[ttuee2006]

Washer Paired...

The washer originally paired with it was a TL Kenmore "90 Series" shredmore. It was a piece and destroyed about half my clothes before the transmission cracked and spilled oil everywhere. That was a very disgusting day.

It was replaced with a FL Frigidaire machine that spins at 1000 RPM. Currently the GE Filter-Flo is in there and it spins at 650 RPM (or so I'm told).

The clothes aren't soaking wet when they go in there. In fact they're basically just damp. Both the FL and the Filter-Flo get the clothes far dryer than the Shredmore ever dreamed of doing, but still takes just as long to dry.

Thanks for the info on the Soft Heat. I was wondering what that was all about.

The auto-dry function on this dryer is a joke really. It stops the dryer when the clothes are still pretty well damp. Not even kind of damp......just DAMP. I tend to dry it on timed-dry just so I can keep resetting the dial. It's been an issue for a while, but now it's getting to be annoying.

 

[DADoES]

Could be a bad thermostat. Or temp control. Have you checked the exhaust temperature? Is it really hotter on low? Instead of separate high/low/etc thermostats for the temp settings, it probably has a bias heater on the operating 'stat to trick it into triggering at a lower temp.

 

[qsd-dan]

It sounds like your problem is in the electrical region of the "auto dry" system. Sometimes fabric softeners and/or dryer sheets will cause a transparent film to develop over the sensors in the drum, sending irregular readings to both the thermostat and auto dry system. Try cleaning the sensors with rubbing alcohol and cotton ball.

 

[ttuee2006]

Electrical Contacts

Here's the thing about the auto-dry system. On the Maytag dryer at my parent's house, there's 2 metal strips in the drum near the door that interact with the auto-dry control.

In my kenmore, there's nothing in the drum whatsoever! I'm assuming it probably has something to do with thermostats or something to determine when the clothes are "dry".

 

[DADoES]

Thermostatic auto-dry. The timer is stopped when the heating element is on, and runs when the heat cycles off. Moisture evaporating from the clothes keeps the air temperature down, so the heat runs longer and more often to reach and maintain the target temp when the clothes are wet. As the clothes dry, the heat runs less and the timer more ... until the auto-dry "time" runs out to the cool down.

 

[toggleswitch2]

...and since the heating elements may be shutting off prematurely, the timer is advancing "too fast" (before it should be).

Long shot guess: Is the blower wheel deformed, cracked, missing "fan" vanes or perhaps has a sock or other obstruction in there. If not...........
If a traditional vent hood, sometimes lint gathers on the OUTSIDE of the door and wedges the flap/door partially shut. If not.........
I'd check the operating and hi-limit thermostats (Read: replace them).
Long shot guess: Is the blower wheel deformed, cracked, missing "fan" vanes or perhaps has a sock or other obstruction in there.
Is the dryer belt installed the right way? I put mine in such that the wrong side was against the drum; the fan and the drum turned slighlty then would stop. That was an easy fix.
If gas you may want to be sure it is set for the proper type of gas. (i.e. natural gas, not propane).
If electric confirm that you have two hot legs and a neutral, otherwise your heater may be getting 110v instead of 220v. (Probably not the case in that the dryer would then nearly never stop on auto-dry).

Let us know what you find/decide.

 

[bobbyderegis]

If it dries faster on low heat than high, I suspect the high temp thermostat. Does the drier feel hotter on low than high? You may want to replace the high temp thermostat.
Bobby in Boston

 

[revvinkevin]

If you have a temperature probe....

If you have any type of electronic temperature probe, like this one for cooking (about $20 in a kitchen store), try running the dryer empty with the probe inside. Also try running it in the exhaust as well. This will give you an idea if the temps you'll know if it's heating properly.

My dryer ranged between 141 and 165 degrees depending on the temp setting.

 

[ttuee2006]

Excellent Suggestions

- The blower wheel is balanced and not missing anything. I first thought it may be plugged with lint, but it was nice and clean.

- The vent hood is some jetson's-looking thing that came with the house. A picture is attached below of what kind it is.

- From what I'm hearing it sounds like it may be a flaky thermostat. How expensive are those? I'm getting sick of throwing money at this dryer, if they're cheap I'll replace them, if they're expensive I ain't doing it! I'll hold out for a Maytag or a HOH or something that actually works.

- Belt's on the right way. Even if it wasn't, the blower is direct-drive off the motor on this model.

- Electric, not gas. Got 220 at the dryer terminals too.

I'll have to get my hands on a thermometer and see what my drum temps are. Could be interesting! Everything I'm hearing leads me to believe that either the operating or the hi-limit thermostat is being a PITA. After seeing the original ductwork, neither would surprise me. They had a vinyl dryer hose and it was all crammed up against the wall and pinched off. I replaced it with a rigid metal "periscoping" dryer vent that seems to do a much better job. With the lack of airflow, I have to wonder if one of the thermostats got warped out of tolerance.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Same Problem

My OL has a similar electric Model 70 from around 1994. It literally can take two hours to dry a full load. Last time I did a load of two sets of sheets it took well over an hour. No difference between auto or timed dry cycles, except that timed-dry has to be re-set when it runs out (90 min.)because load isn't dry. I thought it was odd that the timer goes up to 90 minutes to begin with. My BIL and I took the ductwork and outdoor vent apart - hardly a trace of lint. About a year ago the elements crapped-out, Sears came and fixed it. Runs exactly the same as before. Paired with a 1994 Kmore 70 washer, fabrics come out just damp.

Funny thing is, parental units in their mid-80s keep the house at a comfy 80+ degrees all the time. Summertime it's closed up tighter than a drum. I keep my visits to a minimum to avoid suffocation. If they just hung the wash on a rack indoors it would probably dry in 15 minutes!

 

[nmaineman36]

You just took a picture at the problem. That dryer vent is notorious for getting stuck...especially if there is lint build up in it. There should be a float in it and it looks like a ball. I would replace that vent with a good 6 inch hood vent with flap.

 

[petek]

We have a late 80's Kenmore with the thermostatic auto-dry and "soft-heat" and right off the bat when I bought it the salesman told us to expect it to take longer than the older dryer. I've never really thought about it all these years but it does take at least an hour even for a small load I'm guessing. Hasn't really bothered me I just throw the stuff in and usually get it the next day anyways. At least for 19-20 years old it's only required one belt change so I can't complain about that either.

 

[sudsman]

this will solve ALL your dryer questions

and then some

http://www.thedryerguy.com

 

[ttuee2006]

The Vent

You know, I wondered about that vent too. When I moved in I checked it, and believe it or not, the owners kept it clean! Must have been about the only thing they ever maintained in this house. I have never gotten it stuck and it seems to have good airflow. Just for S*&^t's and giggles, I took the float and the lid off it once to see if it made any difference at all in the dry times.

Answer: Not even a minute.

So it's not the vent.

 

[nmaineman36]

hmmm..how long is the vent?

 

[ttuee2006]

The duct from the dryer exhaust to the vent is less than a foot long. Rigid, boxed sheet metal.