The first thing -- unplug unit or either turn off circuit breaker in panel.
Next, locate the two little black clips on the rear of the dryer....near the top. Remove the upper half of the clips.
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Sit the clips off to the side.
Now you'll need to pick up the rear of the top approximately 2" and jiggle it forward to free the front lip of two hidden snap retentions. Jiggle but be cognizant, there is a wiring harness with it's associated attachments to mating plugs secured on the underside of this top. It's going to give you some resistance, but just jiggle gently from side to side at the rear as you push gently forward. There are a couple of hidden clips in the front which lock the top down at it's seam. Just keep that wiring harness in mind and you should be fine.
Once you've dislodged the top and it's free-- you're gonna need to reinstall the two upper halves of those black clips you took off earlier. Now these will serve as your hinge.
You'll need to prop the top up with either a piece of light pipe or either a section of wood approximately 24" in length. Drill a small 1/8" hole, perpendicularly across each end and run a 6-8" piece of copper wire or other stiff wire through, which you can use to tie the prop in place into holes in the housing. Otherwise, that lid will inadvertently fall when working on the dryer.
Remove the eight galvanized plate screws and remove the plate from the dryer...those two little black bumper screws on each corner are two of those eight screws which need to be removed. Now, you'll be able to reach your hand in behind the top of the cover and disconnect the wire connector to your 'open door' switch and remove the drum light wiring. Stand in front of the dryer while you work and don't allow top of the front to come foward too much as to damage those wire connections.
Using a very small #1 or smaller screwdriver, depress the LED drum light plastic retention clips down into --towards the interior of the drum-- to free the drum light still attached to it's wiring. Go gently.
Now the front will rise almost straight up, out of it's holding brackets located at the bottom. It should come up with minimal resistance. If you are having to struggle or there's seemingly too much resistance, you need to stop and take a deeper look into....it should come up easy.
A detail to remember when you are planning to put the dryer back together: The front sits down into these 90 degree seats. Notice the underside of the front once it is removed-- there are slits which fit back onto those 90 degree seats above.
~back to disassembling--
Remove the mount for the heating element, so that you can pull it out through the rear. It will only come out through the rear. Remove the cover at the bottom of the dryer which the duct line goes through.
To check the dryer's heating element, grab you an electrical meter and turn it to the Ohms setting. Read through the coil as shown below. If it's good, it will read somewhere between 7-12 ohms resistance. If you do not receive any reading, it's a dead giveaway that your coil is broken or burnt out somewhere. Pull it out of the housing and check it thoroughly. Once you remove the screw, the heating element will slide out of the housing. Be careful, sharp edges.
These pictures below are from a prior dryer...just showing you these because I didn't get any further photos for the Samsung, beyond what you see immediately above. That is how the Samsung Dryer heating element housing comes apart. I'm showing you these pictures below, just so you can see how segments of the element coil will break off.
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| found my culprit-- section snapped during heating action |
I purchased a new one from https://www.appliancezone.net/. I've ordered numerous parts from Appliance Zone, too many to name, and never had one issue with any of them. Great customer service too. I think they are a family owned business, or at least they used to be, therefore I support them. I like supporting American family businesses. The numbers you'll need to order a new heating coil are in the corner of the support plate.
New one arrived. By the way this rectified my issue. Back in business and drying clothes again with my Samsung DV48H7400EW/A2 clothes dryer.
