dead dryer....

have an old kenmore *ultra* clothes dryer ( about 11 yrs old). my wife had just put some wet clothes into it....close the door...set the temp and timer....pushed the start button.... and nothing... there is a nice *humm* when she depresses the start button, but nothing after that....

any suggestions?? i am not sure if it is sound to repair or just to replace the machine.... after all it is 11 yrs old and it has had a tough life....

on the same stance... our washer is a matched set.... it still works, but what are the chances that it will die one of these days soon ?

Reply to
WARRENRN1
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Just a hum could be the motor. It will cost about a third of the price of a new dryer. You can get some information at

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Dryers are simple construction. Motor, heating elements, belt, controls. Not a lot of stuff to go bad, but they will. Could last another 11 years with the new motor, or another part could go tomorrow.

Washers are more complex and more likely to have problems. Anything can be fixed, but only you can decide if it is worth tossing for a new model. Anything mechanical will eventually wear out and break. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Might want to get a multi meter or a 120 volt bulb screw into a pigtail and make sure you have ~120 volt between ground and each leg, and ~220 volt across the 2 outside legs. Thats what was wrong with ours one time, only it would spin and but not heat.

Reply to
Anthony Diodati

Motor, mine just did the exact same thing. Pretty easy to fix.

Reply to
Rob-J

Hi,

That is just a "name"....model#?

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model# helps.

Hummmmmmmming and no go is often a bad motor, soemthing caught/jammed i nthe fan blower, seized drum support holdign the motor back from starting, motor jammed up with lint....but most times it is a sign of a bad motor :(

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common trouble makers.

I'd never replace an appliance without first knowing what is wrong with the old one and how much could it cost to be repaired.

With out a crystal ball no one really knows how long it will last....average is approx 15 years.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

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Reply to
jeff

A typical Kenmore dryer is a fairly simple machine. Parts are usually available from Sears and not expensive. Probably the most costlly are the motor and the timer switch. Things like belts or the centre drum bearing are usually a very reasonable cost.

Required are: Basic mechanical repair skills? Tools? Electrical circuit knowledge? Some sort of test lamp or test meter.

A dryer basically does 6 things. It rotates the drum. It blows air. It heats the air. It has a timer switch which you set to the running time; it then shuts off the machine. It has a thermostat that controls the temperature of the heated air. It has some safety overheat switches and a door switch. There is a wiring circuit that connects it all together. Most Kenmore dryers I have seen use just the 230 volts to operate all electrical functions.

If you are lucky there MAY be a circuit diagram on or inside the back panel; or maybe not.

The simplest fault we have encountered has been a broken belt that prevented the drum from rotating. In another instance a spring costing $3.50 broke and while belt was not broken belt was not tensioned and drum did not turn. Aonther fault was the dry bearing of the blower impeller'. It stuck and the belt driving it was slipping, burning and became damaged. The most extensive and potentially most costly problem has been burnt out contacts within the motor. These contacts completed the heater circuit so while the motor would run and drum would rotate the heating circuit did not operate. Such a motor is expensive. We were able to add a relay that overcame the problem without replacing the motor. Another fault with either our dryer or washer (can't remember which!) was a defective contact inside the timer switch. Potentially somewhat expensive but we were able to either repair it or substitute a complete timer with parts from a machine scrapped by another member of the family!

Our dryer is now 42 years old. It has has been repaired about six times; only twice has it been a major problem. We are estimating that with another belt or something minor it will probably last 50.

Some years ago somebody gave us another Kenmore which we fixed with one spring. A couple of years after that we gave it to an acquaintance; she returned it "because it wasn't blowing air" recently. We found that the blower impeller belt was broken because the blower had been jammed by a piece of springy metal from a bra! (Size 'D' by the look of it!).

Hope these suggstions may help you keep abreast of your problem!

Terry.

Reply to
Terry

Reply to
Terry

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