Another Kenmore with no Heat

[tickedntexas]

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I am glad I found this website. It is nice to see I am not alone in my problems with my Kenmore. I have a problem that I wonder if someone may have encountered before. My Kenmore Elite Evenheat will not warm up. I had the heating element and thermal fuse checked by a tech. They told me they couldn't check the thermistor, but when I check it I do get resistance, sometimes. I am not sure if this is really a problem with the thermistor or the multimeter. I am thinking the mm because it seems to me the circuit is either open or shorted. I have looked at the board and it seems okay, but I may not be seeing the problem. I have been wondering if it is maybe the heat relay switch. Does anyone know if you can test for this? Does anyone have any other suggestions. I have followed the suggestions in the other posts here, but nothing has worked. My dryer starts and runs, just doesn't heat up. I spent three hours on the phone today with Whirlpool/Kenmore/and Sears. Of course, since the dryer is 13 months old and I didn't purchase an extended warranty, I am at fault. Funny, I even got the guy in charge of the Kenmore call center to admit that he only has one Kenmore product (at last count every appliance I have, which is 7, are all Kenmore). I digress.

If anyone has come across this problem, or knows of other possible causes that I could look into, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Also, I don't have a wrinkle gaurd switch, so I cannot perform any of the factory tests.



Thanks for the great posts and website. It has been a real find.

 

[Jake]

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Hi,

Did you check or the tech. check for proper voltage 240 volts at the terminal block in the back on the dryer were the power cord comes in?

I have seen many dryers run at 120 volts, but wont heat. Because the other 120 volt is missing due to a tripped breaker or bad fuse or wiring problems.

Also check the tech sheet inside the console, its very detailed to locate problems.

Jake

 

[tickedntexas]

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I have not checked the voltage coming in. Thanks, I will try that. I have checked the breakers. A week after I bought this dryer, Sears had to come out and repair it. I am thinking that the repair tech. took the tech sheet with him as it is nowhere in sight.Thanks for the quick reply. I hope someone out there can give me that little bit of info that will save me the $65 fee everyone wants for a diagnosis.

 

[Jake]

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The first thing i always do when a dryer runs but does not heat is check for 240 volts at the dryer.

2nd: check for 240 volts at heater with a volt meter.

3rd: check for a broken heater, which you said was done, with a ohm meter?

4th: there should be a thermal-cut off on the heater housing, I always ohm that out, i have seen those blow alot. Its the thermal-cut off thats on the very back of the heater housing(on the left side). The last thermostat on that side.

Jake

 

[tickedntexas]

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Thanks again Jake. I will check the voltage coming into the dryer and the voltage at the heater as well. I actually checked all the thermostats with an ohm meter. And, to be sure, took the entire heater and housing (along with thermostats) into my local repair shop and they double checked it. I have a good deal of confidence in everything but the thermistor and the relay switch. I am eager to get home so that I can check the power supplies as well.

 

[Dan O.]

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tickedntexas wrote:

I had the heating element and thermal fuse checked by a tech. They told me they couldn't check the thermistor, but when I check it I do get resistance, sometimes. I am not sure if this is really a problem with the thermistor or the multimeter.

I have heard that those thermistors can be flaky checking Ok when cold but opening up when hot or even when just jiggling the connectors.

JFYI

Dan O.
Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

 

[tickedntexas]

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I checked the voltage. I have 240 coming into the dryer. At the heating element, should I get 240 across the two wires or 120 at each? The reason I ask is if I touch one wire and ground it to the dryer frame, I get 120V. The same is true for the other wire. If I touch the leads to both wires, I get nothing.

Also, where the power comes in from the house, it then travels to a relay looking piece (can't find it on the schematic). When the machine is off, I get 120V on one red wire but nothing on the other. When the machine is running, I get 120V on both of the larger red wires. At no time do I get any voltage on the wires running from this relay to the computer board. Is this normal?

 

[Jake]

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tickedntexas wrote:

I checked the voltage. I have 240 coming into the dryer. At the heating element, should I get 240 across the two wires or 120 at each?

Yes, you should have 240 volts across the 2 heating element wires.

tickedntexas wrote:

Also, where the power comes in from the house, it then travels to a relay looking piece (can't find it on the schematic). When the machine is off, I get 120V on one red wire but nothing on the other. When the machine is running, I get 120V on both of the larger red wires. At no time do I get any voltage on the wires running from this relay to the computer board. Is this normal?

I would have to see the schematic to know for sure.

The power comes in from the house to the terminal block on dryer you mean?

Jake

 

[tickedntexas]

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Okay, I read the schematics wrong. This mystery relayI was talking about is actually the heating relay. I noticed that the motor and heater relays are the same piece, so I swaped them out. Finally, I think I found the problem. When I turned the dryer on, it shut off as soon as I released the start button. When held down, the heater coil seamed to start heating up. I had the gf hold down the start button while I tested the voltage at the heater, and sure enough it finally registered 240V. I ordered a new relay this morning.

Here is to hoping that was the cause and this is the cure. Thanks a bunch for all the help and advice from you guys, Jake and Dan. Appreciate it greatly.

 

[Jake]

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Your welcome tickedntexas.

Let us know how it turns out.

Jake