Whirlpool motor wiring question

[maytag85]

Hello all, this is my first thread in the Imperial forum index on the ‘new’ AW site. Awhile back, I created a thread in regards to the older vs newer Whirlpool 29” dryer motors on the old AW site, almost done with the Mark 18 conversion to my Whirlpool dryer. While I did check to make sure everything is wired up correctly (essentially transferred the wiring harness from the Mark 18 to the ‘63 dryer cabinet), the thing that has me stumped is the wiring to the motor. While the color coding appears to be the same (2 red wires for the heater circuit, black for live, blue for common, white for neutral), it appears that 5M, 6M, 4M are different since 6M is neutral to the wiring diagram from 1963 and 4M is the neutral to the wiring diagram from 1977 that was forwarded by Ben. Just want to double check since I don’t want to ruin the original motor from 1963.

The first photo is a wiring diagram from my friend Richard’s dryer (same dryer), second is the one in the service manual that Ben forwarded to me awhile back. Third photo is how it’s wired up currently at the moment.

 

[combo52]

As long as the two red heater wires are on the correct terminals it doesn’t matter where the other wires are. It’s either gonna work or not if it doesn’t work use a different combination.

 

[combo52]

As long as the two red heater wires are on the correct terminals you can’t hurt anything. Try it out if it doesn’t work use a different combination of wires on the remaining two power terminals for the motor.

 

[maytag85]

That’s what I might do. It appears that I got the to wires for the heater circuit correct, along with wire 5M. More than likely wires 4M and 6M may need to be reversed if they aren’t correct.

Will have to convert it over to 120v since I don’t have 240v available in the garage.

 

[maytag85]

The machine is essentially all back together, though need to figure what terminals need to be moved over for 120v operation.

 

[Chetlaham]

Line two to neutral for 120 volt operation. In other words the terminal block wire that goes down the motor's centrifugal switch gets hooked to the incoming neutral.


Wire that goes up to the timer gets connected to your incoming hot.


At 120 volts you will get 1/4 the heating output.

 

[maytag85]

Line two to neutral for 120 volt operation. In other words the terminal block wire that goes down the motor's centrifugal switch gets hooked to the incoming neutral.


Wire that goes up to the timer gets connected to your incoming hot.


At 120 volts you will get 1/4 the heating output.

More so just to see if the motor will work, along with the auto dry features possibly.

 

[maytag85]

Got the wires moved over (had to move L1 over to the right, L2 to the left), now just have to plug it in to see if it’ll work.

 

[maytag85]

Plugged it in and…nothing. About the only thing that works is the drum light, relay was engaging, but nothing else.

Looks like I’ll have to do some digging to see why it’s not wanting to work.

 

[maytag85]

Did some investigating, turns out the motor wasn’t wired up correctly. John definitely was correct in terms of it will either work or won’t work.

Now, the dryer mostly functions in terms of heating up and tumbling, timer advancing.

Now here’s the bugs that will have to be worked out:
1. The dryer runs when the door is open
2. Air, warm, high works, but the dryer turns off when knit and medium and selected.

Definitely getting closer, but there will be bugs that will need to be worked out.

 

[Chetlaham]

Trace, refer to the wiring diagram, and know your terminals. A multi meter might help.

 

[maytag85]

That’s probably what I’m going to have to do. May just end up ‘deleting’ the electronic dry control and finish guard motor, that could be where all the problems lie.

Thinking about just using a fan switch to activate the timer motor once it reaches a certain temperature on the auto dry, then add a relay which overrides that so it’ll advance to off.

 

[maytag85]

As a start, going to bypass the pulser/finish guard motor.

Second, going to look into the door switch situation.

 

[maytag85]

Update: since I bypassed the pulser motor/finish guard, it no longer shuts off when either low/knit and medium/permanent press are selected.

Now, onto the door switch and getting the drum light/uv bulb to come on whenever it’s running.

 

[maytag85]

Another update: managed to get the drum light/uv light to come on whenever the machine is running, the idiosyncrasy is it only comes on whenever the timer is moved from the off position but is the only gripe about that.

Next, I’ll need to use a contactor to turn the lower wattage element on and off. Will work as is with the momentary toggle switch, but might as well go the extra mile while it’s out of service.

 

[Chetlaham]

Sounds like D2 isn't hooked up, or the door switch is not wired correctly.


Not to sound like the one whose raining on your joy but you need to make sure everything is wired correctly. I miss wired or missing safety like a hi limit, centrifugal or timer contact could lead to a fire.

 

[maytag85]

I did check everything earlier this evening, even double checked just to be sure. My guess is the door switch finally gave up the ghost after 43 (were in service from 1963 to 2005, June of 2021 to January of 2023) years of service, can’t really complain about that.

 

[maytag85]

This may be overkill, but added a contactor to turn the lower wattage heating element on and off. Could have used a relay, but decided to go the extra mile while I was at it and before I put it back into service next week.
View attachment IMG_5853.MOV

 

[Chetlaham]

what wattage are you switching and why?

 

[maytag85]

It’s for the 1000 watt element (4600 watts when the 1000 watt element is switched off, 5600 watts when both elements are on), may be a little overboard, but figured it was better to have a contactor switch the element off then using a momentary toggle switch which off the lower wattage element. Despite the momentary toggle switch being rated for 20 amps, didn’t like the idea with that much current flowing through it despite is being rated fairly high. The contactor is rated for at least 40 amps, so I shouldn’t have to worry about the switch burning up or failing completely.

 

[Chetlaham]

Alright, that will work too.

 

[combo52]

Hi Sean, wiring a whirlpool dryer, oh my I hope your fire insurance is paid up.

There is no 4600 W in 1000 W element in that dryer

Your 64 whirlpool dryer used a 5600 W element and if you put both elements in series you got 4600 W for the delicate or lower heat.

I can’t begin to figure out what you’re doing. You have the electronic sensor grounded through a thermostat.???

Where did all the original whirlpool thermostats go? It looks like there’s a bunch of cheap new Chinese ones on the blower housing what’s what’s with that?

How did the variable tumble system work out? You never posted any pictures of that?

What you’re trying to do is very difficult. I don’t think I would even attempt this. The wiring systems were just too different from the two different dryers. You’re trying to combine, you need to use the entire wiring harness from the 70s dryer and put just a regular single wattage heater in, or if you want a little greater safety and economy wire your 1965 heater in series and just let it produce 4600 W, which is plenty. It was already a slow dryer. It will just be a little slower.

John L

 

[maytag85]

Unfortunately, the 2 speed tumbling feature didn’t work since I couldn’t mount the cable to that tumble speed selector, so I decided to use the ‘speed selector’ to control the heating elements.

As for the moisture sensor being grounded through a thermostat, that was the only way to get the auto dry feature to work, surprisingly does work since the timer doesn’t advance when the the thermostat is closed, advances when it opens up.

As for the cycling thermostats, I replaced them in the fall of 2022 since I gave the dryer a tune-up, was cycling the heat off a bit too soon which was extending the drying time substantially. As soon as I replaced the cycling thermostats, kept a close eye on everything to make sure it was cycling off at the specified temperatures and it was. The heating element with a large load of towels would cycle off after about 10 minutes or so with the originals, with the replacements, would stay on for a good 30 to 40 minutes on high which sped up the drying time by quite a bit.

I am using the wiring harness from the ‘77 MK 18 that was parted out (since put on the wiring to the thermostats on from the MK 18), only things that weren’t changed were the wires to the heating element, everything else is from the MK 18.

Sure, it may be difficult and somewhat of an undertaking doing this, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do when replacement parts can’t be found or sourced.

Good news is everything is pretty much working, just need to get the drum light and console light to come on when the door is opened, will work on that later this evening. If nothing was wired up correctly, the breaker would have tripped immediately when I went to try it out last Saturday.

 

[maytag85]

Here’s an update: everything is now completely functional, dryer stops when you open the door, works as intended.

The only idiosyncrasy of it is the drum light doesn’t come on in the off position, but comes on when the timer is moved from the off position along with the console light, oh well can live that since it’s a minor issue that doesn’t really affect anything or the operation of the machine.

 

[combo52]

Yay progress are you running it on 240 V yet?

 

[maytag85]

Haven’t hooked it up to 240v yet, but usually test on 120v to make sure everything is working correctly, if it works on 120v, should work on 240v just fine.

Not sure if you noticed, but have two variable pulleys (one on the blower shaft, another on the motor) which I can calibrate and can easily adapt a v-belt incase if something were to happen to the polyurethane belt. Shouldn’t have to worry about that for awhile, though.

 

[maytag85]

Final update: got it hooked up to 240v and it works as I would expect. Auto dry feature even works as well to my surprise, will dry to completion depending on the amount of dryness selected.