kenmore electric dryer

[susann7429]

HELP! Our kenmore electric dryer does not work. I push the start button, and as long as I have the button pushed there is a tone (the 'start' tone it has always emitted), but the drum doesn't turn (i tossed in a shoe so i could hear if the drum turned.) As soon as i take my finger off of the button....... nothing. Checked out the belt..... it is fine. Don't have the foggiest about how to check out the belt break switch and don't know if i should bother, but it might save me some money if its the 'continuity' (huh?). Could it be the motor? Oh yes, I also checked to make sure the circuit breakers were 'on'. no problem there.

Coincidentally, the dryer was working just fine until my husband decided to vacuum out the back of it..... hmmm..... keep that vacuum cleaner away from him.

The dryer is about 10 years old, model 69801. I hate the thought of replacing it because this is the first time that we have had any problem with it and our recent endeavors with kitchen appliances have been Terrible!

HELP! (and THANKS!)

[nates]

i dont know appliances but i do know electrical, it sounds to me like you have a bad relay, it will hold in and run as long as you are holding the button but as soon as you let go the relay kicks back out. John, correct me if im wrong.

nate

[susann7429]

quote:Originally posted by nates

i dont know appliances but i do know electrical, it sounds to me like you have a bad relay, it will hold in and run as long as you are holding the button but as soon as you let go the relay kicks back out. John, correct me if im wrong.

nate

[FreeApplianceRepair]

"Coincidentally, the dryer was working just fine until my husband decided to vacuum out the back of it..... hmmm..... keep that vacuum cleaner away from him."

I would look in back to make sure a wire did not come of a thermostat.


John@FreeApplianceRepair.com
www.FreeApplianceRepair.com

[susann7429]

okay.... took the back off and checked all of the connections. they are solid. nothing even wiggles! is there an easy way to tell if it is the motor or not? if the motor is bad, then would the 'start' button still work? start button makes noise, but the drum doesn't turn.

also. how do you tell when it is simply time to buy a new machine? my husband simply wants to buy a new one, saying that this is over 10 years old and it will be nothing be trouble. (maybe i should water that money tree out back a little more and then it wouldn't be an issue!) he says that the cost of a new motor will be half of what a new one machine would cost us...... i haven't been able to pull any quotes off of the internet yet, but i'd better look. i'm more inclined to go with old faithful and keep my husband away from the vacuum cleaner.

best to buy motors off of the internet?

[FreeApplianceRepair]

I would not put a motor in a dryer that is over ten years old.
It's funny it worked until it got vacuumed out.

If you have a digital multi-meter you could use I could help you trouble shoot the problem.



John@FreeApplianceRepair.com
www.FreeApplianceRepair.com

[susann7429]

I do not have a digital multi-meter, but if you tell me more, i will go out to home depot and get one. the more you tell me, the better off i am.

i thought so too (about the vacuuming) but really pulled on the connections to see if they was any give.... and knowing ray he just jammed the nozzle in and went to town, so there could be disruptions elsewhere (although the dryer went 'bad' over the course of a week. didn't die right away. seemed to be making noise/having trouble turning the drum.)

as soon as you tell me what to get, i will go out and get the multi-meter. oh yeah, you probably know this already, but the model number of the dryer is 110.86980100, not 69801 (that would be the serial number).

thanks John. We are already starting to argue about what kind of dryer to buy....... i appreciate your energy and effort!

[FreeApplianceRepair]

The first thing you want to check is the voltage to the dryer.

You can see how this is done on my website. The dryer I have on the my site is a maytag so it will look a little different then yours, but you still check the same wires and should get the same voltages.

I will be adding much more photo's to the site when I get time.
I have more photo's then time

From there you would want to ohm out the safty fuses in back. You do this with the dryer unplugged.

If you get to this point I can post some photo's showing you how the meter will read when they are good and how it will read when they are bad.

You should not have to spend much on a digital meter. I have seen them at radio shack for $20-$30.

They are not the best meters and you would not want one if you were going to use it daily as I do, but for the number of times you will use it around the house they will last a long time and do a good job.

Be sure to ready any papers that come with your meter.

Once you have a meter you will find it usefull for other things around the house too.



John@FreeApplianceRepair.com
www.FreeApplianceRepair.com

[FreeApplianceRepair]

The biggest thing to look for in a meter is to make sure it's one with a digital read out.
We will be taking ohm and AC reading with it. Any digital meter you buy should be able to handle this.

John@FreeApplianceRepair.com
www.FreeApplianceRepair.com

[susann7429]

I'll be buying a digital meter tomorrow (with your message printed out in my hand so i know what i am doing.) from there i will be scanning your website. ray thinks i'm nuts, but if it turns out to be the motor, then i'm only out $30.00 bucks..... the cost to get an estimate from a repairman, right?

i will print out the pictures on your web site and hope that they are close enough to what i am seeing inside of my dryer to make sense. i am okay as long as i have pictures or an idea of what i am supposed to be seeing..... if it gets too abstract, i get lost!

so i will check out the voltage, and then await further instructions (or pictures, as the case may be.......) i'm on a mission now. and as luck would have it, i took a vacation day tomorrow. (never mind the fact that my son just came down with a nasty case of the flu, and ray ended up with severe contusions to his ribs from falling on ice..... i'm going to bundle them both up and PLAY WITH MY DRYER!!!!)

thanks again john. this is turning into an adventure instead of a headache!