Clothes dryer burned thermostat

Hi all,

I needed to adjust the drive belt on a Whirlpool gas dryer requiring the front panel to be removed and the door switch wiring to be disconnected. It took two attempts to get the belt right. After the first attempt, I replaced the front panel, reconnected the door switch wiring, plugged it in and tested it. The belt was still misaligned but there were no electrical problems. On the second attempt, I plugged the power cord in without reconnecting the door switch wiring. As soon as I plugged it in the thermostat burned up (sparks, smoke, the whole enchilada). This all happened without actually turning anything on. Seems like a longshot but I=92m wondering if the burned thermostat could be related to the disconnected door switch. Any opinions on the matter? Thanks!

Regards, Mike

p.s., for those who must know, the belt slipped off the tensioner when somebody who shall remain nameless turned the drum backwards by hand from inside the dryer.

p.p.s., the belt is on right now

Reply to
MikeL
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Hmmm, Hard to believe, without door interlock switch how could power come on? No spring loaded idler pulley on your dryer? It's sort of self adjusting. I bet you must've shorted something, I believe.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

If the door switch was disconnectred, what did you do with the wires to the switch????? Give you some ideas ?????

Reply to
hrhofmann

turning the drum by hand in either direction shouldnty cause a problem perhaps you need a new belt? and maybe rollers?

the disconnected drum switch may have caused the short taking out the thermostat or you may have another problem.

Reply to
hallerb

My guess is that, with the door switch disconnected, one or more of the leads were touching the grounded cabinet. Then you plugged it in, putting 120 volts across the high limit switch which caused it to self-destruct.

Reply to
Bob

That gets my vote.

Reply to
jamesgangnc

I repair machines for a living but every now and then make a mistake: ( and smoke a switch or something:(

So the OP shouldnt feel too bad things like this can happen:(

Reply to
hallerb

And mine.

Another thought: the wires to the door switch on our dryer take a long route around the case at the top, and rely on being plugged into the switch to keep tension - I suspect that's true with most dryers. Without them plugged in, even with the ends taped, there's a danger of them hitting the drum and being damaged (quickly leading to a short as insulation was torn away)

Reply to
Jules Richardson

Thanks everybody for your advice. A coworker checked the thermostat and it turned out to be okay so the sparks must have been arcing from the one of the leads (possibly from a short through the cabinet?). There was sooty residue.on the terminal but the wire itself seemed to be undamaged. Anyway, I put everything back together and the dryer runs fine. We'll watch it closely for a while to make sure everything is running right.

Regards, Mike

Reply to
MikeL

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