Speed Queen Gas Dryer Moisture Sensor is Terrible

[dylanmitchell]

Anyone have success with getting a SQ dryer moisture sensor cycle to work well? With Sensor Dry Near Dry equals still wet not damp or near dry and Dry equals scorched and overdried. I gave up on using the sensor setting shortly after I got the dryer figuring it just wasn't accurate and just used the manual time and temp setting. Recently, I figured I'd give it another try and it was the same. I think it's a known SQ dryer issue and SQ dryers are not know for being as great as the washers. I'm just curious if other folks do sensor or manual dry cycles.

I have a 2017 SQ ADGE9RGS gas dryer and don't think the sensor is broken or dirty just that it's how the SQ work from the factory. Overall, I'm happy enough with the dryer and it paris well with my AWNE92SP. I realy like actually I absolutely love the AWNE92SP so I'd make the same purchase over again since the washer is so good and I can get the performance I need out of the dryer with manual time and temp options. And the dryer has otherwise excellent performance and a powerful fan plus it's a SQ so easily repairable.

And FYI, these are 2017 models. It's unlikely I'd buy and 2018 or later SQ products unless I found a soft mount 20 or so pound commercial SQ FL that wasn't to beat up or too expensive.

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Yes there’s two possibilities, wet or toasty, nothing in between.
It took a team of experts decades of round-the-clock painstaking research to achieve...seemingly...nothing.

 

[frigilux]

I have a 9-Series 2017 SQ washer and dryer. It is the worst electronic sensing system I’ve ever had on a dryer. Having said that, I use Near Dry and generally let loads of mixed cottons dry for 35 minutes on high heat. Large loads of heavy towels are dry in 1 hour + 15 minutes. I’ve just gotten used to timing the load rather than allowing the sensor system to over dry the load.

I’m hoping the heavy duty build (and assumed reliability) of the dryer will make up for the pathetic sensing system in the long run, LOL. Have really come to like the washer, though.

 

[iowabear]

When I was growing up and learning to do laundry we had a GE dryer with auto-dry but my mother never used it.  I have no idea why.

 

Instead she just set the timer for the correct time for jeans, towels, mixed loads, etc. and taught me to do the same. 

 

Years later when I owned my first dryer with auto-dry I was surprised that it worked!  However I could learn to live without it just fine.

 

[maytag85]

The Speed Queen dryers are well made, but like stricklybojack said, it’s either wet clothes or extra toasty clothes. My aunt has a Amana gas dryer made by Speed Queen, and my aunt doesn’t much care for it since it tends to scorch clothes, and if I had one of those Speed Queen gas dryers, I would just throttle the burner with the internal shut off valve, and I would rather deal with a dryer that takes longer to dry, but is gentler on the clothes. The HOH gas dryer I acquired recently may be a little slower, but is definitely more gentle on the clothes, and probably won’t scorch them to death since it has moisture sensors in the baffles, and will shut off when they are dry.

 

[DADoES]

 
My SmartLoad / AeroSmart give consistent results and are comfortably accurate.  Five dryness levels, I use the default Normal except on large items such as quilts (one step higher, Delicate/low temp).  The sensor algorithm claims to be "intelligent" so as to react to the moisture hit "curve" of different fabric types.  The lowest Damp level dries a little more than what I consider to be ironing/damp.  There's also a "damp" signal when that level is reached for convenience of removing items for ironing or hang-to-finish and continuing the cycle for the rest of the load.  The UI beeps are too low-volume, should have been engineered several times louder.

 

[dylanmitchell]

Mine moderates heat well on low, has plenty of heat on high, and a strong fan. If I was buying again I might look at a basic model with no sensor dry no sense paying for something that doesn't work.

Did SQ make any significant changes to the way 2018 and on gas dryers work. Not aware of any energy reg changes for dryers so wondering if they just updated the look on them.

 

[supersurgilator]

I have a 2015 electric GE dryer that overdries. I set it on less dry and clothes come out completely baked! Thinking it was also a fluke I've tried it several times, but same thing everytime, it bakes everything on less dry. I just run it for an hour now and I'm fine.

 

[rinso]

I'm in my 70's, and have had all sorts of dryers in my time. With the exception of possibly the Maytag Halo of Hell, I've never found electronic dryness sensors to be all that superior to the indirect, time and temperature, mechanism. I have always found electronic sensors not to be very accurate with small loads. They will usually shut off prematurely. Over the years I have had Kenmore, Electrolux, LG, and F&P dryers, all with electronic sensors. Only the F&P could accurately dry small loads.

 

 

[askolover]

My GE sensor dry does so perfectly, but my newer Frigidaire not so much.  I usually have to turn it back on for 15 minute "touch-up" to completely dry waist bands, jean seams, etc.

 

[helicaldrive]

Try

Using Regular, Eco dry, Near Dry. On the 9 series, that is. Yields the result I want every time. Never overdries and doesn’t get too hot either.

For sheets I use Dry. For jeans I use Less Dry.

No complaints.

I have two of them, both gas, and both perform identically.

Heavy Duty (high heat) leaves towels rougher, as high heat does in all dryers. And it shrank my jeans too short. Stretched them back while wet and never used Heavy Duty again.

If you open the door later in the cycle, the time remaining number can lead you to think it’s going to overdry. But actually when that’s the case it will suddenly drop 5 to 10 minutes if you keep watching. Also, it has a 10 minute cool down, compared to 5 minutes for most other dryers from the past, which can lead one to think it’s slow and overdries.

All that said, the Newton IA Maytag dryers I had were more efficient because the lint filter was 3 to 4 times larger, so lint built up in a thinner layer and thus didn’t impair air flow as much. I guess same is true of Whirlpool dryers, but I hate cleaning up the lint mess all over the top of the dryer after cleaning the lint filter. Never cared for Whirlpool dryers because they always balled up my sheets.

I have had a Maytag and a Whirlpool that did not have electronic sensors for auto dry, and I kinda preferred that over the Maytag that did have sensors. The non-sensor dryers were more likely to leave seams slightly damp as they should be. To each his own.

Underwear elastic and socks seem to be lasting far longer since I came into the SQ dryers. Probably wouldn’t be so if I used Heavy Duty (high) heat. I suspect the 8 series and knob series SQ dryers use high heat for regular, and don’t have a medium heat setting, thus leading to complaints of clothes baking and over drying.

 

[gusherb]

I’ve got the 2018 model / DR7 and there are no eco nazi changes to them over the last one. It does have Eco Dry which is an option that decreases heat by 10% after the heat setpoint is satisfied initially. I’ve personally found the sensor dry to over dry by about 15-20 minutes, I haven’t really experimented a whole lot with it because in general I don’t trust auto-dry in any dryer, I’ve found they all over dry or under dry. I also find the medium heat setting cycles the burner fairly aggressively, even the outgoing SamsungTag would let it get hotter on medium, so no issues with scorched clothes here. The high setting of course lets the burner run nearly the whole length of the dry time. Part of the key to not scorching clothes is making sure you have very good venting, all solid duct if possible, no more than a couple feet of semi rigid duct, and make sure the cap outside isn’t restrictive or plugged all together.

 

[eurekastar]

Is it just a phenomenon with the gas dryer?  I had a 2016 Speed Queen Electric dryer that I thought was great.  It was BOL so it didn't have an end of cycle signal, but otherwise, I thought it was great.  I had the matching washer, which was great too.  I did adjust the pressure switch to increase the water level.  But that was easy to do.  I left the pair behind when I moved and wish I still had them.

 

 

[combo52]

Sensor Dry VS Auto Temp Dry VS Time Dry

I have used hundreds of different dryers and have almost always found the auto dry systems reliable and accurate, much better than trying to guess at a running time and setting a timer.

 

The SQ electronic sensor dryers are not the best for accuracy that I have ever used, they don't work that well for smaller loads, I think their sensor placement is too high so it does not contact the clothing as much as other designs do.

 

John

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you are not OCD about having the dryer sit absolutely level with the washer, for small load electronic auto dry performance enhancement, you can run out the front legs a bit to give the dryer a bit of a tip backward and it will help small loads contact the sensors that are at the rear of the drum if you find that small loads are not touching them. 

 

[uncledave]

W1/Dr7 combo here.

I'd rate its sensor dry as "acceptable".

I find the Speed Queen sensor mode not as accurate as my Mieles, although it struggled with tiny loads as well, It was better on large and larger partial loads.

I've also seen worse performance, namely the Samsung dryer this replaced, its sensor dry mode wasn't usable.

I believe Mieles ladle end sensor to likely be the best spot for most machines but for sure its is electrically harder to put it on a spinning drum than fixed on a wall.

My sensor dry experiences look like this.

Miele B
Speed Queen C
Samsung D

 

[kalanikaau1]

SQ dryers

A Facebook group which I USED to belong to had many complaints about SQ dryers, both electric and gas about the auto dryness sensor system.

I can see where these complaints were valid, however some members would look for excuses to condemn SQ washers as well, including the TC series.

I own an almost 30 year old Kenmore (Whirlpool) electric dryer which has performed flawlessly, I set the heat level to permanent press and the auto dry system towards the dryer end of the spectrum.

Reading this post serves as a reminder to disassemble it again to de-lint the unit, I've been to several residential fires where lint buildup in the machine and ductwork was the cause of ignition.

 

[combo52]

Dryer, electronic sensors, and lint fires

I suspect the electronic sensor on the Speed Queen dryers is not as accurate because it’s mounted up to Hyatt about the 3 PM position at the front of the drum, I’ve had very few complaints from customers and I personally have not used one extensively.

Electronic sensors on my whirlpool dryers that are mounted on the rear bulkhead at about the 5 o’clock position have always worked spot on. Never had any complaint with the accuracy or the repeatability with medium sized and huge loads almost never do tiny loads in any dryer.

I have never seen any evidence that lint buildup in exhaust work or in the dryer itself has led to serious fires, first of all lint is not very flammable. Something else has to go wrong with the dryer to start the fire.

Almost every fire I have seen the clothing themselves caught on fire, possibly due to washing things that had cooking oil in them or other factors of the clothing not being adequately washed to get out oils or something.

The warning signs for any clothes dryer that I Tell people is a dryer that is excessively noisy or one that you have to set it for two or three cycles to complete a drying cycle. Those are the warning signs people should look out for , the other danger sign is a room that steamy and full of lint, which usually indicates the exhaust pipe, of course, is no longer attached to the dryer.

On Friday, I fixed a 34 year-old whirlpool electric 27 inch dryer where the exhaust pipe was pinched and disconnected behind the machine, the people ran it making a horrible racket for three years the idler pulley bearing wore out. Finally the belt came off and it would no longer tumble, the dryer had 2 1/2 inch thick lint on top of the heater box. Yes, it was slightly brown on the bottom, but it didn’t result in any type of fire was able to clean it all up put in a belt and idler pulley and running again.

One of our customers who retired from the consumer product safety commission told me he had never investigated a dryer fire that he found to be caused by lint buildup either in the dryer or the exhaust duct.

All that said it’s still a good idea to service a dryer that’s used heavily every 10 1520 years depending on usage levels but the most important thing is a dryer that is operating properly drying the clothes and the same amount of time without horrible noises is very unlikely to be dangerous. And like any Appliance whether it’s a range or a refrigerator, stove, etc. don’t pack a lot of flammable stuff on the sides of it or the back of it or stack flammable stuff on top of it, I have seen a lot of fires started by refrigerators in kitchens where people have the paper bag collection stuffed beside the refrigerator.

John

John

 

[johnb300m]

***DRYER LINT IS FLAMMABLE***

OH boy....before anyone coming upon this thread gets any bad ideas, dryer lint IS very flammable.
A quick google search came up with tons of article on the dangers of lint buildup.
Even many articles on how to use lint as fire starters while camping.

One article stated that 27% of dryer fires start due to the excessive lint buildup alone.
Granted, the rest of the dryer fires are initiated by other issues, having that lint buildup in the dryer and exhaust, will still cause all that stuff to go up in flames like a dry pine tree.

Fire Prevention 52: 101 Uses for Dryer Lint (U.S. National Park Service)

Lint in clothes dryers causes about 15,500 fires annually in the U.S. This article provides alternative uses for lint and offers tips for dryer safety.

www.nps.gov