We got back from three weeks holiday touring Norway bringing home a huge pile of washing and our old faithful gas tumble drier decided it wasn't gonna play.
It's over 25 years old now and every year is a bonus but I'll hate to see it go.
Anyhow, symptoms were: drum starts, gas valve opens, igniter sparks and gas lit as per normal. Unfortunately the igniter kept sparking and after about
10 - 15 seconds the gas shut off.Anyone fancy guessing the problem? ;-)
Tim
Nah. Uses a pair of electrodes for flame detection.
Tim
Sounds like whatever flame detection method it uses has failed. Older things possibly use a thermocouple to hold the gas valve open. In the case of a boiler spares are fairly universal and i would expect a tumble dryer to use similar parts. If it uses an electronic flame detection like a condensing boiler, these need to be clean and the metalwork earthed to get reliable operation. Good luck
Thermocouple not working, hence not detecting the flame is lit so it keeps sparking trying to light the flame, when the thermocouple still doesn't report the flame lit the system cuts the gas?
Well I cleaned and re-gapped the flame detector electrodes but that didn't help.
I should say that I *did* find the fault eventually but it wasn't what I was expecting. ;-)
Tim
No thermocouple, it uses electronic flame detection.
Tim
Something nibbled?
Getting warmer. ;-)
Tim
Sorry, I was not clear, I tend to call any form of flame detection a "thermocouple".
Reading some other replies, was the wiring from WFOFDYH(whatever form of flame detection you have) in some way frayed (Guinea pig chewing the wires: Just complete guessing now as I have no idea of your life style) causing a 'no signal' situation?
I think this was the major problem. ;-)
Looks like someone has tried to build a nest in the outlet vent cowl.
Tim
That's the sort of thing that happens when you have anything to do with Europe.
Yes one day I'll regale you with 'how a hibernating toad tripped my entire house'
Well its safety circuit obviously thinks it is not lit so it has to be a component in the flame detection circuit, or a problem with the electrodes/connections to them then. Of course this assumes the flame is burning as it should and where it should be, which is more to do with the jets and the mixing of the air with the gas I suppose.
Brian
Something nibbled the earth connection in the supply?
Well this was the "obvious" problem (once I looked for it!).
Poor airflow through the burner stops the flame detector working but after removing the blockage it would run, but still not properly. Eventually I pulled out the motor and fan and found a huge concretion of dust & fluff in the duct between the drum air exit and the sucking fan. So I can't completely blame the mice/birds. Years of neglect also had a part to play. ;-)
Tim
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