Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Have replaced fuses on element housing of Kenmore 90 series, Model 110 dryer - still no heat.

Please Note:  If your Kenmore dryer, Model 110 is not heating please read Kenmore 90 series, Model 110 clothes dryer runs but will not heat.  That page is crucial.  This particular page you are reading now is secondary to that page (above link in red)
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If you just replaced your thermostat and hi-limit fuse on the side of your element housing only to discover you still have no heat, it could be the moisture sensor which monitors exhaust flow.  This sensor is located just underneath your dryer door in the exhaust manifold.  

What happens is, all is well until the thermostat or hi-limit fuse on the element housing goes bad.  Then apparently it created an eddie current of the sorts which in turn damaged the moisture sensor.   

The moisture sensor monitors exhaust air and senses the moisture content thereof, when initially leaving the drum.   This sensor is located in the region directly under your dryer door, in the dryer exhaust manifold.  Its location is somewhere close to where your slide-in filter is.  That is, if your filter is located at the mouth of the drum as opposed to being on top of the dryer cabinet. 
 
To locate the definitive location, just follow the wires from the thermostat and hi-limit fuse on your heating element and they will lead you over to the moisture sensor.  Both the thermostat and hi-limit fuse (found on the side of the heating element housing) AND this moisture sensor are all 'tied together' so wires will join them all.  


The moisture sensor is a normally-closed switch which opens the electrical circuit when too much heat and not enough moisture are sensed passing through the exhaust chamber,  thereby killing power to the element.  

The primary thermostat on the side of the heating element works a little differently than the moisture sensor, as it cycles on and off during dry cycles on 'heat' alone.  It might be, that during the malfunction of the thermostat, eddie currents damaged the moisture sensor.  Thereby, rendering it useless.

Replace this moisture sensor and you should be back in business. 

 


Sunday, April 20, 2014

Replaced a dryer sensor but after a week or two, it failed again.

So you have replaced one or both, the dryer's heating hi-limit thermal overload fuse and the thermostat located on the side of the element housing.  After a week or two, one or both of them have gone 'south again'.  Do not allow this to upset you too much.  Don't over think it just yet, it's not always a larger underlying problem.

I think those sensors are 'all' just made cheaply.  Apparently the probabilities of getting one that slips through the quality control cracks may be somewhat high.  I have replaced a couple myself in times past that did likewise.  However, after replacement a second time, I have not had issues in years. 

So before you go digging deeper into technical troubleshooting and worrying too much about the issue, just try replacing the fuse or thermostat, one more time.  This just might be the ticket to solving your issue.

-chris