getting appliance repair info from Sears?

[Nate Nagel]

Hi all,

a friend has a dryer that is really annoying... Kenmore Elite (electric)

110.62082101 - anyway, it shuts off before the clothes are dry - it supposedly has some automatic moisture-sensing gizmo in it, but when it shuts off, the clothes inside are always still damp. Now here's the annoying thing; other than a parts list (which doesn't have anything clearly labeled "automatic moisture-sensing gizmo") there is no info available on Sears' web site and all of the manuals are "technician required to order." Anyone know of any workaround to finding useful information online as to how we could fix this annoying thing?

thanks

nate

[gfretwell]

The "gizmo" is just a thermostat that measures the exhaust temperature and advances the timer when it gets to the set heat.. I have a similar dryer and it won't really get the stuff dry unless you set it to "towels" the maximum setting in auto mode.

Things to look at are anything that blocks the outgoing air. (plugged louvers outside all the way back to the manifold inside the dryer).

[Pete C.]

Incorrect, most of the moisture sensing dryers utilize a parallel set of contacts located somewhere in the dryer where the clothes will rub against them. They work by measuring conductivity across the contacts, i.e. wet clothes=more conductive.

In the oldest and simplest form I've seen, those contacts were connected directly across a large timing capacitor. The capacitor slowly charged during the dry cycle until the threshold which ended the cycle. The conductivity of the clothes drained off some of the charge extending the cycle.

While online information from the manufacturer / distributor is normally crap, just about every appliance I have ever seen had a printed diagram inside, either on a label stuck to a panel in the appliance, or a packet of diagrams in an envelope stuck inside the appliance somewhere. Open up the dryer and you should find the diagram, unless someone already lost it. I like to take the diagram out, scan it and archive it and put the hardcopy back where I found it.

[DD_BobK]

contacts located somewhere in the dryer where the clothes will rub against them. They work by measuring conductivity across the contacts, i.e. wet clothes=3Dmore conductive.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Dumb question but who knows? Is the filter clean and vent is clear of obstruction? Our dryer is Whirlpool with same type feature. It works.

[Charlie]

When we had one of those we discovered an unintended consequence. Drying the kids' snow jackets the metal zippers never let the dryer shut off.

Charlie

[hrhofmann]

If the clothes tumble inside a drum, where can the contacts be that the clothes are supposed to touch?

[jamesgangnc]

I think there are several engineered solutions to the automatic dry detection. I have fixed ones that have the temp sensor in the air outlet as gfretwell describes. The air leaving the dryer stays cooler while it contains a lot of water and gets hotter as the clothes get dry.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Pete C." wrote

And when the contacts get gummed up from using softener sheet they sometimes don't work properly. My first thing to do would be to clean them.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"hr(bob) [e-mail]" wrote

Lower portion of the rear of the drum. In mine, plainly visible, but may not be so much in others.

[gfretwell]

That is certainly not true on my Whirlpool/Kenmore. I have had the drum of mine sitting out in the driveway and there was no sensor on the drum or the two end pieces. (nothing with wires on it) There are 2 thermostats in the exhaust flow, regular bi metal deals and one is the "gizmo" in question.

[Dave M.]

Nate,

Ok, This ain' t rocket science.

Play the video.

Dave M.

[Dave M.]

Fairly new and a nice idea

The

It's never as easy as the video. Something will go wrong.

Dave M.

[despen]

The video certainly doesn't address my dryer. But I have found it easy to find online instructions for my specific dryer. Usually the hardest part is "how do you open this damn thing".

[teshaf]

Rear of dryer lower left corner there should be an access panel. Remove screws and remove panel there is a high temperature sensor there and a place where the hot air goes outside thru duct. Remove outlet pipe and look for hard lint at outlet. You may have to remove some more screws but it will be there and cleaning from the top will not remove it. Also get on Repair clinic and order a new high temp sensor and replace while you have apart. This will make the dryer run longer and dry the cloths.

[Nate Nagel]

It does, but it's always been set on "more dry"

he doesn't seem to have a problem just restarting the dryer a couple times but it annoys me, so I was hoping it was an easy fix :)

nate

[Nate Nagel]

makes sense, thanks. if nothing else a good cleaning is probably due

nate

[gregz]

I am sure some use the thermostat method. I had a dryer that started to burn cloths in the auto mode, but worked ok in the manual mode. I trashed it.

Greg

[Ashton Crusher]

My Kenmore had an abbreviated trouble guide stuck in the control panel. When mine stopped working (would not keep running after you let go of the start button) the guide said replace circuit board. I did and it fixed it. It's possible the problem isn't your sensor but your circuit board. $99 part at the time. Take the control panel cover(s) off and look for a trouble guide.

[Tekkie®]

Nate Nagel posted for all of us...

>

Just read to this date.. anyway try wiping and drying the sensor off with plain water as fabric softener will sometimes coat it causing false readings...