What Causes Dryer Heating Elements To Fail?

[whirlcool]

A friend of ours owns a dog grooming salon. Today we went by to visit. Both of her dryers (a 2007 Frigidaire & a 2005 Kenmore) were out. Both of them turn but don't heat. She has had the heating elements in both dryers replaced in the last year and they went out again.
The owner said she'll just buy a used dryer instead of fixing the dryers she has. She said even if she could get it fixed to $50.00 she can buy a used dryer for $25.00. (Woman think you know).
I looked at the dryers and they both looked clean and didn't seem to be overly linty either. She keeps the lint filters clean.

What causes heating element failure?

 

[powerfin64]

exhaust hoses..

are they clogged, or bunched up? are they semi-rigid or the nasty stuff? things to look into

Rich

 

[whirlcool]

The exhaust hoses are very short flexible metalized material. And they are clean. They exhaust directly to the outside via a less than 1 ft length with no curves in the ductwork.
The dryers do not heat at all on any setting.

 

[retro-man]

1st I would try tripping the circuit breakers on both dryers to see if this fixes the problem. sometimes a dual breaker for 240 will trip on one side but not the other. Have had this problem with an a/c unit before. blower would work but unit outside would not functioin.
Jon

 

[mrb627]

Lint

I would say that lint buildup makes it to the element and burns it out. The replacements can fail early if the installed has handled them with bare hands. I have a co-worker that went through three heating elements in less than two years on his Kenmore dryer. Generally, I recommend replacing the hi-limit thermostat when the element has failed. He had replaced his twice. The last one, not. Odd that the brand new element lasted for years, but the replacements failed early.

Makes me wonder if the OEM elements are junk. Maybe you should only use FSP elements...

He ended up buying the cheapest Roper dryer Lowes had in stock.

Malcolm

 

[toggleswitch]

Excessive voltage may be a factor.

But heaters both out simultneously may point to a lack of 220v.

On Long Island the voltage tends to run high. Had two new Whirlpool brand electric stoves. Both developed arcing surface-unit control switches. But in a commerical setting there may be 208v (3-phase) for a dryer rated 220v, so I don't think that will be a problem.

Likewise banging / slamming the heck out of the dryer door may not help the phiysical integrity of the heating coils either.

 

[combo52]

DRYER HEATING ELEMENT FAILURES

First the owner should find out what the problem is by calling a qualified person to access and fix the problem. Electric dryers with vents that short should never burn out an element in a lifetime unless the voltage is too high. If you approach or go over 250 volts the elements will fail prematurely. Normally a heating element will outlast an electric dryer and if you do have an element failure the solution is not just to replace the element like you would replace a light bulb but to figure out way it failed and fix that problem. I have been repairing dryers for over 30 years and learned long ago when a heater is burned out that if you don't fix the underlying problem you will just be back and have an unhappy customer. The experience of Malcolm's co-worker is very common as there was else wrong that was not fixed and no it does not hurt the element to touch it with your hands. If fact on GE and MT HOH and many others you have to string the element through the insulators by hand and I have never seen this cause a problem or seen a service manual or instruction sheet that suggested not touching the element with your bare hands.

 

[whirlcool]

As it turns out, the 240V outlet was installed "by a friend" and is wired off of a 120V outlet. Very strange set up. The whole deal looked rickety.
However the Frigidare dryer is hooked up to a 240V outlet that was installed at the time the building was built. But it too failed.

Karen was talking to this friend and she was just so angry at the fact that the dryers failed that she's determined to dry the dogs using wet towels! Quote "These days you have to learn to get by with what you have!".

She hasn't figured out that because the animals are taking longer to dry, she can't get as many done in a day which in turn is costing her money. After my last observation of her tactics I have determined that the owner of the place is a crazy bitch and I don't play well with those.

So I have removed myself from helping her in any way, shape or form.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Me thinks I wouldn't take my pet to her grooming salon. "drying" a pet with a wet towel has a number of problems. One spreading disease, fungus, etc from one pet to another. Two--you aren't going to accomplish too much drying with wet towels.

Other than that, there is also the possibility that the dryers are under heavy use, or at least useage that is much greater than home use, and she may want to look at a commercial type machine.

 

[laundromat]

People will not use their "automatic cycle" which senses when the clothes are dry and automatically cools down and shuts off.Instead,they will set the timer on 60 to 120 minutes then check and see how dry the clothes are after about twenty minutes or so.that is such a waste of time and energy that there should be a law against it. (since they already have control on washers and how much hot water we use doing our clothes, you'd think these manufacturers would be a bit more strict on how much time a dryer runs per load.)I line dry 95% of my loads and they smell so much nicer drying outside instead of in a dryer.

 

[qsd-dan]

People will not use their "automatic cycle" which senses when the clothes are dry and automatically cools down and shuts off.

I bet that's the problem right there. If the dryer is perpetually shut off with the heating element still activated (checking if the towels are dry) without letting the machine run on and letting the heating element PROPERLY cool, it will cause the heating element to eventually sag and break or ground out.

 

[whirlcool]

There is a Frigidaire washing machine onsite, so she at least washes the towels between dogs. So she uses clean, wet towels. I think there is a strong possibility of fungus and mildew as the towels never get dried.
We bathe out own dogs here at home. They have their own set of towels which we wash and dry after each use. If I found out that my dog was being dried with wet towels (an oxymoron of an idea) I wouldn't he bringing my dog back there.

Where do these women get these ideas that they can operate with such an attitude? This woman is acting like the driers have attacked her and she won't get them fixed "Just to show them who's boss!" I just go along minding my own business and somehow I always come across this type.
Any bets on how long it'll take her to get the dryers fixed?

 

[maytagbear]

Innocently meant question:

Why is a high volume application using electricity, anyway? I would think that gas heated dryers would be much cheaper to run!

I almost always use the "Intellidry" (sensor) setting on my gas Dependable Care.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[whirlcool]

There is no gas on the premises. The shop is at the end of a strip center.
The grooming shop goes through about 30 towels a day. It's not a large operation. There are two groomers, one dog bather and one receptionist. And that's all.

 

[toggleswitch]

My grandfather always said, NEVER EVER waste your time trying to figure out and apply logic to the female mind. It can't be done, and remains one a place containing one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.

Always beware of people whose only two emotions are exhuberant elation and bitter anger.

The neighbors had their 110v 20a TWO-WIRE circuit (@12 gauge 20 amp capacity) converted to be able to use their 220v 30a THREE-WIRE dryer. (Which needs #10 gauge 30amp wire) The neutral/ground was the metal sheath of the armored cable. (Standard in NYC where pastic-sheathed wire was not, until recently, allowed). The two conductors were used as "hots"

The poor circuit-breaker failed in that the heat generated by the overly thin wire deformed the circuit-breaker. How there was not a fire due to overheated wire, I don't know. If this is how the 120v outlet was utlitzed, it is better that the cicruit failed rather than catching fire.

 

[whirlcool]

I always expect people to have a minimum amount of order to their thought patterns. Hysterical women don't seem to have any order at all to their way of thinking. Plus they usually aren't technically proficient. So when I deal with them, I usually end up getting angry and walking away and they turn into bitches.

Not the way I want to live.

 

[joe_in_philly]

Wow - My experience is that a person's tendency for unreasonableness is unique for each individual, not a person's gender.

 

[whirlcool]

I didn't say that all women are like that, but it sure does seem like more of them act that way then men do.

 

[sudsman]

John is correct

a element will most of the time out last a dryer if it does not there there is most like a voltage problem. almost always too high.. Ele provider should check it at no charge. Lower voltage will just cause a longer drying time and will not harm the element.Have seen this very thing on electric shirt presses.