Older Kenmore dryer on the fritz! help!

[ffspiel]

Hi,

This is my first log. Thanks for being there. I have a dilemma. I own a Kenmore dryer (87984800) that is about 12 years old. It's been a good workhorse and up until about the last 2-3 months, has been able to dry a large load within its alloted time (70mins.). It now takes two cycles to do this.

The dryer appears to be working well??!! The basket (?) turns. The blower blows pretty well. The igniter primes, the burner burns for about 10-14 seconds. The burner shuts off and the cycle resumes in 1 minute. This continues as such throughout the timed cycle.

What I've done thus far:
- I've checked and cleaned the vent tube discharge receiver in the wall, air flow seems to be no problem.
- I've checked the vent tube discharge hole to where it goes to the front of the dryer; it's been vac'ed and is clear.
-I've taken off the front and checked the blower fan; it's intact and the blower works.
-I've vac'ed the lint screen receptacle down to the blower fan; it's clean.
-I've changed the two coils atop the burner controler; no change in length of burning time.
-I've checked the main timer on top of the machine... (it's keeping the right cycle time).

Here's my questions:

Q: What is the length of time the burner should be on? (I never noticed in the past, but I guess it's important now to know as this dryer doesn't work well now.... ). My gut feeling is that 10-12 seconds isn't enough time in the cycle to get the effect I'm looking for....
Q: Could the thermostat be on the fritz?
Q: What's my next step? (... I'll beat you to it... I cant afford a new dryer as of yet....).

Thanks in advance for taking the time answering my questions....!!!! - robert

[Mad Mac]

As a general rule, your kind of problem is generally vent-related. I'd start by running a load with the vent disconnected and see whether that improves matters.

[ffspiel]

It absolutely was a vent problem. My issue was that I didn't go far enough up the vent to locate the blockage (on the vent cap on top of my roof). I had no idea the vent was blocked (75%) up there. Thanks for responding to my post. The vent clean problem was corrected and the on cycle of the burners went from 10-14 seconds to approximately 40 seconds or more. My wife and I are both really happy. This blog is fantastic and I appreciate all the educated and experienced responses. Thank you, again. -Robert

[Mad Mac]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. I'd suggest you take a serious look at changing your venting arrangements if reasonably practical to do so. These units do not exhaust upwards well.

[ffspiel]

I'll look into modification of the venting system. This is new construction that has a laundry room separating the garage from the rest of the house; the discharge is vented to the wall behind which in turn is vented upward through the roof. That cap was filthy. I'd consider one of those in-house water type discharge filter, but it gets pretty hot in Bakersfield as you know and that option would probably make doing laundry pretty difficult for my wife. I think that I'll just have to stay on top the cap and wall vent tube cleaning cycles... Thanks again, Mac. p.s... What a beautiful day in SoCal it is, huh? I bet your orange groves smell great in Moorepark. Take care...