[mdhatcher]

We dried a load it worked fine. After folding them. I put another load in, pressed the start button and nothing. The light is on inside the dryer, so I know it is getting power. I checked the push to start switch and the door switch both are ok. What else could be wrong? Any help would be appreciated.
Marlene

[denman]

How did you check the door and start switches?

I do not have a wiring diagram for this unit but sometimes the light uses one half of the 240 volts while the motor uses the other so the light is not a positive indicator that you will have voltage for the motor.

Also sometimes the thermal fuse is in the motor line and does not shut off power to the entire unit.

Only way to check for 220 volts is to measure it with a meter
Sometimes one side of a breaker can blow without tripping the breaker, try turning it off/on slowly.

If you do not have the wiring diagram check in the control console, they like to hide it there

Here is a link to your parts breakdown which may help
Whirlpool LER8620PW0 Parts List

[mdhatcher]

I checked it with an ohm meter. I found some directions on line on the door switch, thermal fuse and the push to start switch. I also checked the wall outlet and made sure it had 110 on both sides. This is my mothers dryer and I have done some repairs before but electrical is not one of my better things to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[denman]

I looked at your parts breakdown and noticed you have a push to start relay, not a switch.

Could be the contacts are shot or the relay is not closing.

Also when you checked the thermal fuse, did you remove the wire from one side of it before measuring? This prevents measuring an alternate circuit path instead of the fuse itself.

[mdhatcher]

I checked the start relay with the ohm meter. It tested good. The thermal fuse I unpluged and checked with the ohm meter and it tested ok. too. I pulled the Bia thermostat that is next to the thermal fuse and checked it. It has 4 terminals if you checked two top and bottom ones it pegged the needle on the meter but the sided ones it only went half way.
Wasnt sure if thats how to test it. The side terminals are coming out of the black plastic round part in the center. It looks almost like the plastic on the inside of the terminals may be a little melted. This could be where it is molded.

[denman]

It sounds OK to me, if you mean by pegging the meter you mean 0 ohms

One ste of connectors is the contacts - should be 0 ohms
Other set is the internal heater - should be 10 to 20 Kilohms. Depends how it is wired in (120 or 220 volt) normally it is a couple watts.

[mdhatcher]

Originally Posted by denman

It sounds OK to me, if you mean by pegging the meter you mean 0 ohms

One ste of connectors is the contacts - should be 0 ohms
Other set is the internal heater - should be 10 to 20 Kilohms. Depends how it is wired in (120 or 220 volt) normally it is a couple watts.

Well now that I lead the ohms meter starts at 200 and goes to 0 I retested the thermal fuse and it was bad. I installed the new one and the dryer work fine.
It just took learning to read the meter. Thanks for all your help.
marlene