The Best Gas Dryer Igniting Systems?

[daveamkrayoguy]

A spark-ignition? A glow coil? (Which my Whirlpool-made Kenmore dryer has & I peer inside to see it light up the gas flame in there...)

Or the good ol' Standing Pilot Light?

Also: which machines had what?

-- Dave

 

[tomturbomatic]

Anything but a standing pilot. I think I read somewhere that the glow bar (or coil) igniter is more dependable than the sparker, if somewhat slower. One disadvantage to the glow-type igniter is that if the voltage is low like from other appliances operating on the circuit or a summer load-related voltage drop, the coil or bar might not get hot enough to open the gas valve.

 

[twintubdexter]

I'm sure everyone is tired of me talking about this...

...but my mom's Apex used an automotive spark plug to ignite the burner..."gas on" knob turned to on which started gas to the standby pilot...turn "ignition knob" to on and hold it there for 30 seconds or so to allow pilot to heat thermocouple (you'd hear the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz of the spark plug)...release ignition knob, set timer and push red "start" button, then look through the viewing window in the upper left corner to make sure the burner had lit, if it didn't it meant you didn't hold the ingnition knob on long enough...for any subsequent loads the pilot remained lit until you turned the gas knob back to off...the Apex's burner was at the top and it had a perforated drum that sort of broiled your clothes like a rotisserie chicken at Costco.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Not tiring or tiresome at all, friend. APEX was big into radiant drying. The electric element spanned the top half of the drum from about 9 to 3 o'clock. Another user of the spark plug was the Preway gas dishwasher. The combustion tube vented out the front so you had to be careful to keep rugs away from that area. I would love to see a dryer where the gas valve was opened before the blower started and then some good old fashion delayed ignition happened with panels and doors blowing outwards. There's a video waiting to be made. Of course, it would have to be a really ugly dryer so that sympathy would not overwhelm the fun.

 

[wayupnorth]

I never saw a dryer that used a spark to light the burner. My mothers old Bendix had the standing pilot but she would make sure it was off between washdays to save gas. She got a Kenmore 70 series when the Bendix finally gave up the ghost and all the Kenmores and Whirlpools I ever saw used the glow plug which seemed to work fine. I have electric now and dont see much of a difference in the power bill at all but I hang out whenever possible.

 

[combo52]

Gas Dryer ignation Systems

Many gas dryers used Direct Spark Ignition, WP & KM dryers all used this system from 1964-1969 and many other brands, GE Norge, Westinghouse, Frigidaire, Speed Queen and others used this system a few years longer. WP & KM were the first to use the present system in 1970 and all other companies followed suit except MT whom was the last to change over to the glow bar system. The Glow bar system in dryers while actually very similar to what most gas ovens use is not affected by slightly low voltage and slight igniter wear like the igniters on gas ovens. The dryer system unlike the ovens has a heat sensor so as long as the igniter works at all it will always satisfy the sensor and ignite the burner.

 

[wayupnorth]

Direct Spark

I had no idea that it was used in all those models. I do know my mothers early 70's Kenmore had the glow bar. But my aunt that lived next door's mid 60's Kenmore and other neighbors Whirlpools sounded the same when then burner ignited. But as a kid, I never dared to investigate and pull the access door open and watch how it worked.

 

[tomturbomatic]

John, I thought that you told me you had to put your LK gas combo on a separate circuit because if the other washer and the gas dryer were operating, it created too much current draw on the existing circuit for the glow-type igniter in the combo to get hot enough to light the burner. How can it ignite the gas if the hot surface system does not get hot enough to ignite the gas?

 

[easyspindry]

When I moved into my house . . .

. . . in 1972, there was an older Whirlpool gas dryer here that had the standing pilot light. That was my first experience with a gas dryer. It worked beautifully. And there was a glass door so I could watch the action. The drum light stayed on as long as the dryer was operating. It was spooky at night to open the basement door and see flashes of light as the clothes tumbled and the light shown through the door.

The problem was my ignorance of gas appliances. The pilot got so it would not stay lit. I had no idea it was something as simple as a thermal coupling gone bad. I called the gas company to come out for repair and gold hold of a grumpy old codger who said it was the middle of the "light up" season and it would be six weeks before they could work on my dryer. (I didn't realize at the time that any appliance repairman could fix the thermo coupling.) I was working at the time and needed the dryer and didn't have time to wait six weeks . . . so I got a Kenmore dryer. Big mistake.

That old Whirlpool dryer was a workhorse and I miss it.

All the dryers I've had since then -- Maytag, Whirlpool Duet, and now Fisher & Paykel -- have the glow plug type ignition, and it works just fine.

Jerry Gay

 

[combo52]

Earlier Style Dryer Ignation Systems

The earliest gas dryers with electric ignition [ these started being produced in the 1940s ] used a small platinum glow coil that ran on 2 1/2 volts. This glow coil would light a pilot that would stay on any time that the dryer was running and a main burner valve coil was cycled when drying heat was called for. This style ignition was used by almost all dryer manufacturers that were building gas dryers in the 1950s and gradually went out of production in the 1960s. Makers that used this system included Apex, Bendix, Blackstone, Maytag [ all their gas dryers before HOH and none there after ] Hamilton, Philco, Whirlpool, Kenmore,and I am sure I missed a couple. You will notice that GE, Westinghouse and Frigidaire are missing as these three didn't make gas dryers at all till the 1960s and therefore none ever used this early style ignition system.   The Kenmore Gas Combos continued to use this expensive to build ignition system till the end of KM combos in the fall of 1971. They did this because if the machine was badly oversudsed and because the gas burner was in the base of the machine the ignitor area could get wet. The low voltage ignitor coil would not be hurt by water unlike the direct spark ignition or later glow bar ignitor that both have exposed parts that are electrically live with 120 volts.   Tom you are absolutely correct as this early style ignition could be easily affected by low voltage if the ignitor was old and weak and we did have this problem on my 1965 LKM gas combo when it would try to light when I was running three or four washers on the same 20 AMP circuit at the same time.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

One thing interesting about gas dryer start-up's which I

--Is that on some dryers, the drum starts spinning & the glow coil/glow bar lights the gas (like mine does) or you hear the spark light the flame (or maybe the pilot will light it)...

Or the lighting starts up (you hear the crackling of the spark or the roar of the gas erupt as it's lit by the coil or pilot) and THEN the drum starts to turn!

Having gone to a commercial laundry or two is how I'd experienced the other methods of how gas dryers ignite & the differences between makes & models (as well as home vs. commercial dryers, too!)

Long overdue mention is the ammonia plant that my dad worked at (he's long-retired from, now, though) actually using retired commercial laundry mat dryers to dry the charcoal used to make the stuff!

(A long line of poppy red Hubasch's--least my impression on the brands, but I could clearly see they were a Frigidaire-esque poppy red!--would be standing in a line there, though I would often be getting my "grand tour" of the place when it was closed; dad took me there after-hours, as opposed to the occasional visit when it was operating...)

-- Dave