I shorted out my Dryer

[EggRaid]

Hello All,

After throwing parts at my washer this week like an amateur, I now pose it to the group and request your assistance.

While troubleshooting/investigating a sound from the blower motor (which turned out to be nothing), I plugged the dryer back in with the back still off and started it up. While doing so, I accidentally bumped the blower housing into a connector on a switch and it arced out.

I checked the visible damage which was only a little burnt mark on the switch and on the connector. The connector welded itself to the blower housing and a little tug pulled it back off. (This sounds like a comedy caper by now I am sure. I am not typically this "Chevy Chase-like.")

I tried the dryer again and it started right up, but now the heating element would not turn on. Everything else seems to work fine. I ordered the switch-like part that the connector was attached to from repairclinic.com, since I thought it might have some damage. As you can tell by now, my electronics experience is not very grand. I swapped it out and still nothing. There is another such switch on the same set of wires, so I replaced that too. Still no heating element.

Why won't the element turn on now and what do I need to do to make it work?

Thanks for your help, I am down to my last pair of underwear and socks!

ER

[EggRaid]

Thanks Tony. I understand how this situation appears and I didn't try to edit that perception. This is certainly not my best moment, but as I said in my post, I am not "really" this bad.

I am pretty mechanically inclined and tend to take care of most of my own repairs on the car, house, etc fairly well. While your idea if DIY is "to save money" mine is also to learn something along the way. It does seem pretty careless of me to knock the shroud into the connector, but it wasn't some deadly blunder because of a drunk wannabe attempting to fix his dryer with a pair of pruning shears.

Hopefully you don't ever venture to unknown territory where the landscape is unfamiliar and God help you if you make a mistake when you do because "Tony" will be right there with empty hands to put you back in your place.

ER

repairclinic.com,

[PJx]

You need a continuity meter ie a volt meter and an ohm meter. $16. The heating element might be bad or the wiring to it burnt into. PJ

[Tony Berlin]

[Chris Lewis]

According to Tony Berlin :

We all have our off days. I could recount a story where I replaced a ball joint on my car in about half an hour and was quite proud of myself, until a moment's inattention with the grease gun at the very end of the job turned into hours and hours of cursing, swearing, broken tools, sheared off caliper bolts, grazed knuckles, and...

Oh, it's too painful to recall. Not my finest hour (couple days actually).

The OP really needs to back up and reassess his approach. Ie: not replace parts blindly.

This is a good time to go out and buy (or get from the library) a book on appliance repair and a volt-ohm-meter (or even a neon tester), and step by step diagnose _exactly_ what's broken before replacing anything.

He'll learn important skills that way to go along with his enthusiasm.

Oh, before doing that, go to the panel and cycle the dryer breaker off then on again. If one of the two breakers has tripped, the motor could still run but have no 240V to drive the heating element. Dryer breakers are, by code, supposed to be tied together (and hence trip together), but sometimes they're not tied. Or one of the breakers partially tripped but not hard enough to take the other with it.

I can recommend the Reader's Digest book on how to repair almost everything.

[Tony Berlin]

[Steve Nekias]

Yes, it was dumb; but we've all done dumb things. The important thing is that we learn from these little lessons. It's also important to learn all you can about electricity and troubleshooting BEFORE you open up another appliance.

There are some wonderful websites for DIY appliance repair--often with step-by-step diagnostics and photos. Do a google search for "appliance repair." A couple of my favourites are

and For general diagnostics, try For general electrical wiring practices and safety, try a search for electrical wiring.

Back to the safety theme--if you don't KNOW what you're doing, either find out or call an expert--electricity kills.

Mr Fixit eh

[Jack Alexander]

Check the fuses. You probably blew one of the two cartridge fuses supplying power to the dryer.

Jack

EggRaid wrote:

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

He He He He , If you never tried something -- You will never Know nothing.

TURTLE

[Steve B.]

Yes it was pretty careless and you are just damn lucky it wasn't deadly. It very easily could have been. It doesn't matter if you kill yourself being careless or kill yourself being drunk with pruning shears... the end result is that you are still dead.

I encourage you to try to fix your own stuff, but you need to learn some basics first. You never work on an appliance that is plugged in. That is simply stupid. You need to get a basic multimeter and a basic troubleshooting book and figure out what your actual problem is instead of throwing parts at it. Both of the switches you replaced could have been tested in five seconds using a $10 multimeter.. You've spent more on shipping already I would bet.

Steve B.

[I-zheet M'drurz]

I shorted out my Dryer I shorted my Dryer I'Short m-Dryers

MY LONG LOST COUSIN!!!

[CBhvac]

You plugged in the dryer, and tried to move it with the cover off, and the line energized.... ohhhhhhkay...

Not this time tho...

Good example, cause that is what it looks like to us... Question...how much have you spent so far on this simple dryer fix? You replaced both limit switches and you could have checked them in seconds with a meter. Throwing parts at this problem will indeed fix it, but the key to being a DIY person is to understand what in hell you are doing BEFORE you start, and if you dont, you dont dive into it blindly or you learn why its cheaper so often to simply call someone.

We techs, and owners of repair biz do it every damn day. Every time we get a call that a unit is down, we are indeed going in blind, until we can look things over, and more often than we like someone has gone in with no utter clue of what things do, and why, and messed it up worse. More often than not, we get a call, and the first question is, How much for a service call?, then, We will call you back...Fine. Whatever...we know good and well that:

1- They are going to try to fix it for themselves.... 2-We will either never hear back from them because they totally screwed up, and are embarrased to call back, or they find someone else AFTER the forkup..

I love going into a local parts house and hearing some of the horror stories.

Now..plainly..you could have killed yourself...I know...I know...you are still around and therefore no harm done...well, if thats the way you see it, fine. But, depending on how long you had a direct ground on a 110V leg of a 220V line, you probably melted your element....and yes...that can be checked in seconds with a meter...but...go ahead..buy a new one first.

[EggRaid]

Negative. I plugged it in to watch the blower motor start up, and when I let go of the housing it swung into the connector on the thermal switch.

[Des Perado]

That should win a Pulitzer prise. Des

[CBhvac]

Ok..then in that case, I retract that statment and add

Holy shit....

[me]

Just go to a laundromat