Fuses in box get hot when using Kenmore Electric Dryer (only on heat cycle)

Where to get? At a bank. One hundred for a dollar.

Reply to
HeyBub
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Good one!

Lim time:

He was reading, when out went the light, So he looked for a fuse, quite uptight. But he couldn't find any, So he used an old penny. The blaze lasted well past midnight.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

You don't have aluminum wiring, do you?

Joe

No.

Reply to
Jim2009

It would heat the connections, not the wire - and the connection at the fuse holder could be heating even if it is physically tight

Reply to
clare

Some "fuse", ya phoney...!

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

Dryer Box; I took apart the fuse holders and cleaned all contact points (including the fuses) with emery cloth and then with water. One screw assembles each fuse holder locking the holder (threads) and the wire connection bar in place.

I found a corroded connection on one gate/post (when you flip the level on the box). It was on the heater side. It was not to bad, looked like a bit of the copper in the gate had transferred to the post which is more like silver. I also squeezed the gate prongs together to tighten the fit.

I found a major problem inside the outlet box after removing the cover, one side of one of the female prongs was broken. The male side prong (cord side) had some heat damage. I cleaned up the prongs on the cord. Replaced the dryer outlet with a new one. Hooked everything back up, ran the dryer on high heat without clothes for 30 mins, check the fuses - both were just slightly warm, nothing at all like before.

Washed a load, put them in the dryer, opened a beer. Checked the fuses about 20 mins into the load, heater side was hot again! (as it was in the beginning) But the motor side is now just slightly warm! I removed the fuse from the heater side and found some small arc points on the fuse tip and the screw head it contacts. I tightened the screw a bit, took the 30A fuse from the motor side and stuck it in the heater side, put a new 15A in the motor side. (I'm out of 30's, will get new ones tomorrow). I ran the dryer for another 10 mins, checked fuses - both just slightly warm. (Maybe it was not long enough for it to get hot, will run longer tomorrow.)

I may tighten the screw inside the fuse holder a bit more, I didn't want to over do it.

Anyone have an idea how many Amps each side (heater/motor) should draw? I think I need to replace the box, but I would like to make sure the dryer is not the problem.

How about this Meter for checking the Amps? Cen-tech Digital Clamp Meter at

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or this one
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So here's my plan.

1) Buy a new meter, check Amps for both sides, if normal replace fuse box. If not normal, then back to the dryer.......

Cheers, Jim

Reply to
Jim2009

hi your problem seems to be strange

Reply to
rabinyajesu

Your an Idiot!

There's just got to be one on every board.

Cheers, Jim

Reply to
Jim2009

Does this post suggest that the wires from the 'main box' not be protected at all by fuses or circuit breakers? The wiring for a dryer (30 amp) should probably be #10 AWG fed from either fuses or a DP circuit breaker IN THE MAIN PANEL?

What is the suggestion here; that the wires to a pony/external fuse box/panel be tapped on somewhere to the busses in the main panel and then external fuses fed by thin gauge (#12 or #10 AWG) be provided????

The picture is most confusing! If some thing's getting hot it sounds like either bad connections. Or, another suggestion; has one of the heating element inside the dryer broken or sagged and made contact with the metal frame of the dryer (presumably grounded?). Thus causing additional current to flow, via ground and thereby possibly by passing some of the safety (e.g. over heat) switches inside the dryer which are in the 230 volt circuit.

Assumptions: This is a fairly standard 230 volt 2 or 3 wire North American style dryer which is grounded.

Reply to
terry

I've got the $10.00 one. Seems sufficient for checking loads.

Reply to
HeyBub

I'm not an expert in dryers, but I don't think there is one side for the heater and one side for the motor. I would expect the heater current flows through both legs, providing the heater with 240V. The motor could be 120 and if so, would flow through one leg.

If it were me, I'd replace that box with a breaker as suggested. I would not trust it, regardless of what else you find. And while I was at it, since the main fuse panel is apparently located in a similar environment and by all indications is likely even older, I'd get that replaced by a new breaker panel too.

er at

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Reply to
trader4

The heat will be generated at the high(er) resistance point(s) -- if the wire were small-enough to be a voltage dropping element in the circuit, it would be a distributed heater (albeit lower resistance than, but similar to the dryer heating element). If the connections are bad somewhere, they'll generate heat at that (those) resistance point(s), not somewhere else.

If there were a stray path to ground it might be possible to draw excess current over the normal load and still be under the fuse ratings. But, any heating effects would still be effected at the point (s) of higher resistance in the circuit. If only the fuse box/fuses are overheating, there has to be a high resistance point there somewhere--high resistance somewhere else can't transfer its I-squared- R losses across the ether to be dissipated elsewhere.

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Reply to
dpb

Does this post suggest that the wires from the 'main box' not be protected at all by fuses or circuit breakers? The wiring for a dryer (30 amp) should probably be #10 AWG fed from either fuses or a DP circuit breaker IN THE MAIN PANEL?

What is the suggestion here; that the wires to a pony/external fuse box/panel be tapped on somewhere to the busses in the main panel and then external fuses fed by thin gauge (#12 or #10 AWG) be provided????

The picture is most confusing! If some thing's getting hot it sounds like either bad connections. Or, another suggestion; has one of the heating element inside the dryer broken or sagged and made contact with the metal frame of the dryer (presumably grounded?). Thus causing additional current to flow, via ground and thereby possibly by passing some of the safety (e.g. over heat) switches inside the dryer which are in the 230 volt circuit.

Assumptions: This is a fairly standard 230 volt 2 or 3 wire North American style dryer which is grounded.

The add-on box is wired to the main with #10 gauage, and the dryer is wired from the add-on also with #10 gauge. It's a 30 Amp rated add-on box. The outlet is 50A rated. The add-on box, the dryer, and wire were all installed new at the same time by a qualified person several years ago. It's a 3 wire system.

I visually checked the heater element cold and it looked OK but it was a little hard to see near the top (vertical tube). I was going to look at it while it was hot, but I'm waiting until I get a meter so I can also measure the amps to see if they increase as the dryer runs longer.

Cheers, Jim

Reply to
Jim2009

The heat will be generated at the high(er) resistance point(s) -- if the wire were small-enough to be a voltage dropping element in the circuit, it would be a distributed heater (albeit lower resistance than, but similar to the dryer heating element). If the connections are bad somewhere, they'll generate heat at that (those) resistance point(s), not somewhere else.

If there were a stray path to ground it might be possible to draw excess current over the normal load and still be under the fuse ratings. But, any heating effects would still be effected at the point (s) of higher resistance in the circuit. If only the fuse box/fuses are overheating, there has to be a high resistance point there somewhere--high resistance somewhere else can't transfer its I-squared- R losses across the ether to be dissipated elsewhere.

Reply to
Jim2009

On Jan 20, 10:55=A0am, "Jim2009" wrote: ...

... Yes, I figured as much. _Sizing_ of the equipment/wiring isn't the problem and this subthread has nothing to do w/ your problem or its root cause.

I simply wanted to correct a misconception that somehow a resistance point somewhere else would be the cause of heating to show up removed from that location--just doesn't work that way because the heat comes from I^2 R losses and is generated at the location of the "R" thru which the "I" passes whether that is localized in a (faulty) connection or distributed in the case of a wire.

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Reply to
dpb

On Jan 20, 10:48=A0am, "Jim2009" wrote: ...

...

If the heating element touched ground it would short and burn immediately.

It's easy enough to test the elements if you can access the connections from the top w/o pulling the drum; simply measure continuity between them (w/ the dryer unplugged, of course). Typically there are three connections in series so the two elements can be operated in "low" and "hi" mode -- high is from one end of the one to the other end of the second while low is from mid-point to low end where the two elements are connected (that's the GE/Hotpoint arrangement I'm familiar with, anyway. Whether some of the other brands use two parallel independent elements or other arrangement I can't say; never had anything else).

It's quite simple w/ the GE style to pull the front and the drum to inspect the elements visually.

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Reply to
dpb

I'm not an expert in dryers, but I don't think there is one side for the heater and one side for the motor. I would expect the heater current flows through both legs, providing the heater with 240V. The motor could be 120 and if so, would flow through one leg.

If it were me, I'd replace that box with a breaker as suggested. I would not trust it, regardless of what else you find. And while I was at it, since the main fuse panel is apparently located in a similar environment and by all indications is likely even older, I'd get that replaced by a new breaker panel too.

What you say could be true. I know if I remove the fuse #1 the dryer stops, if I remove fuse #2 the dryer continues to run.

I agree I should replace the fuse box with a breaker box. I want to fix the problem with the dryer first (if found) and then I will replace the box reguardless. I don't want to replace the box first only to find the that dryer damages the breakers.

Cheers, Jim

Reply to
Jim2009

Thanks, I'll get one today.

Cheers, Jim

Reply to
Jim2009

I agree with that, I've never seen a normal sized electric dryer here in the US of A which didn't have the heaters powered with 240 volts using both legs of the feed circuit.

That said, I'm a little suprised that the 15 amp fuse the OP said he put in "the motor side" didn't blow.

At this point I'll allign with the folks who have told you to junk that Dryer Fuse Box and install a breaker box.

For several years I had ongoing problems with a fused disconnect switch supplying 240 volts to the supplementary resistance heaters in one of our home's heat pump air handlers. The switch contacts would oxidize, start heating up and raise the temperature of the end cap of its adjacent cartridge fuse to the point where the fuse link would melt or sometimes the solder jointing the fuse link to the end cap melted and disconnected it.

That fused disconnect and air handler are in our attic, which is definitely not a "moisture laden" area.

Cleaning and "tightening" the switch contacts would only solve the problem for a few winter months before it recurred.

I gave up and replaced the entire fused disconnect with an identical one and a couple of years later the same damn thing started happpening.

I (think) I finally put the problem to bed by replacing that fused disconnect with an unfused "pull out" disconnect about 5 years ago. There was no need for fuses there anyway, because the line feeding that disconnect is protected by breakers at its feed end, the disconnect is just a code required safety feature to protect service techs.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

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