Guys, I’m having an issue with my electric clothes dryer. It has repeatedly blown the thermal fuse. The tech has replaced it each time and the last time he replaced the high limit cutouts and thermostats at the heating coil.
This thermal fuse is feeding the motor. Duct is clean and only 7 feet long with 2 ells.
So I’m thinking, could this be something with the house wiring? I looked at the outlet for a loose or burnt connection, all OK.
Went to the panel to look and found corrosion around the main lugs. Also some rust on the screws on the top two breakers on each side. It’s a 200A Murray panel fed from the meter with AL. Didn’t appear to be any corrosion inhibitor used.
I removed the meter so I could work on these connections and could only get one of them loose. I cleaned the white powdery corrosion and put corrosion inhibitor on the one lug.
I sprayed the second lug with PB Blaster and I’ll try again in a few days.
What is the likelyhood that this is causing the dryer problem? Does the main disconnect need to be replaced or is cleaning the connections OK?
Rich
Replies
Sounds like the motor is overheating/overloading. Could be due to a bad connection and resulting low voltage, though then you'd expect to see signs that the connection was overheating. Could just be a bad motor. Could be bad drum bearings.
Didn't see any signs of arcing or overheating, just the corrosion. Thought about the drum rollers, seems to spin fine. You may be right with the motor, although if i jump the thermal fuse, it runs fine. It seems that the techs are just parts swappers these days.
Rich
Check the connections at the fuse itself. If the connection overheats there it'll blow the fuse.Check for the possibility that there's a missing heat shield between the fuse and hot parts.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Spade connectors on the fuse , they look good. The fuse mounts to the blower housing just past the blower. No parts missing. Gots me stumped :(
Thermal fuses have specific heat ratings. Check the specs for your dryer and make sure you got the right one.Check the rest of the air flow path, including from the lint filter. Any obstruction that significantly slows the air flow - it doesn't have to be in the exhaust tube - can cause the parcel of air to overheat and blow the fuse. Check to see that your vent louvers open properly.
I've read about the lint filters getting clogged with lint/residue from dryer sheet softeners. Mine looked clean, but washed it anyway, now it looks cleaner. The tech provided what he said were the correct replacements for the thermal fuse. I even tried running it with the hood removed for a while. Maybe the motors drawing more current as it gets older, causing the fuse to heat up?