[friskyweasel]

Hello all - I really hope someone can help me out on this one. We were so pumped up, because we thought we had the problem fixed, and now the same problem has happened again. My sister owns a Kenmore 70 series dryer that isn't more than a couple of years old (bought brand new from Sears).

Here is the dryer info:
Brand: Kenmore
Model #: 110.66752500
SER #: MS2613193
TYPE: DWJR-ELE-2406028-FM54

We started to notice that the dryer was needing to run FOREVER to get the clothes dry, and even then they were usually still somewhat damp. In diagnosing the problem, I opened the front loading door, manually pressed the shuton/shutoff button to "trick" it into thinking the door was shut, and turned the dryer on high.

I immediately noticed that there was no heated air blowing in from the vent in the back left corner. After doing a little research, it seemed the heating element was the most likely problem.

I followed some instructions from a help site (with the dryer UNPLUGGED for safety's sake) for replacing the heating element. When i removed the old heating element, sure enough there was a clear, distinct break in one of the coils. The heating element, although only 1-2 years old, was very black and corroded looking (i'm not sure if this is normal or not for a 1-2 year old heating element).

In any case, I replaced it with the new heating element, put everything together exactly like it was before i took it apart (i manually marked all the wiring connections so i would know where they needed to go upon reassembly). Voila! This time when i ran the "open door" test, i clearly felt heat coming from the rear left vent, and could even see a faint glow, showing that our new heating element was now working! Great!

Now for the bad part...Not more than 1-2 weeks later, after literally only 5 or 6 uses of the dryer, we are AGAIN now noticing that the dryer is not producing heat from the heating vent. I have not taken the dryer apart again to inspect the newly-installed heating element. I'm just a little too disappointed right now to even begin to try to start dealing with the whole problem again.

Can anyone tell me what the likely cause is of this? All I can think is it maybe something to do with an electrical issue at the 220V outlet...too much "juice" being fed to the dryer maybe? But in that case, i would think some kind of internal fuse would blow, so as to protect the internal components of the dryer (including the heating element).

I'm at my wits end with it, and not sure what to do next. I would appreciate any help you can provide!

[AmpDraw]

Well in residential electrical you're not likely to see a wrong voltage (higher) problem on any 240 volt appliance. This is more of a problem in commercial equipment where voltages can be 208VAC, 220VAC, 240VAC, 480VAC single or three phase. This type of power difference isn't going to be a factor from your power company to a residential location. So we'll ignore this thought, if anything your power is likely lower than expected, not higher.

Most common cause of a heating element failing is of course age, not a factor here so lets look at another cause, not being able to fully dissipate the heat it produces. In a dryer what usually causes excess heat building up at the element is a lint plug somewhere in the air flow. The air flow starts right at your heating element and flows into the drum, then out where the lint filter is and onto out the house.

You should start by taking things apart along this entire route and making sure your free and clear of any potential blockage. That chute your lint filter goes down into is a favorite place for plugs to occur, particularly with this style, lint falls off the filter while pulling it out, when you push it back in it just keeps packing it in deeper and tighter into the bottom of the chute.

Typicaly the thermal fuse blows and needs to be replaced before your element goes out, but as you now know, this isn't always the case. Right now since you have a strong new element its not likely gone bad again, instead the thermal fuse probably blew this time.

Partselect doesn't seem to have this model listed at all for some reason, I'm sure they have parts for it though. Sears does have your part numbers and breakdowns listed on their site...

KENMORE | Model #11066752500 | RESIDENTIAL DRYER | BULKHEAD PARTS, OPTIONAL PARTS (NOT INCLUDED) | SearsPartsDirect.com from Sears

Your thermal fuse is #59 in the "Bulkhead" drawing there, its located right on the blower housing. Its designed to blow when the dryer over heats due to a lint blockage, idealy before your element goes bad or before the lint or clothes catch on fire, so its a very important part to make sure you not only replace when blown, but to locate and fix the reason it blew to begin with (usualy lint plugging up somewhere).

You can test this part with the dryer unplugged from power with a simple Ohm meter or continuity meter. You should get a full continuity or zero Ohms (full meter reading) on the part with at least one wire off of the two terminals on it. If you get no reading at all or no continuity on it then it has blown, don;t just replace it without locating and fixing the reason it blew to begin with.

[AmpDraw]

P.S.
Also make sure when the dryer is being pushed back that you aren't pinching off the vent hose on the back of it.

[ApplianceJunk]

Some good advice from AmpDraw.

[friskyweasel]

thanks a lot AmpDraw for taking the time to read and respond to my issue! I'm not sure how long it will take, but I am definitely going to try out your suggestions. I'm just a little burnt out on it right now, as it was a big disappointment when we thought we had it fixed, for the problem to happen again a week or two later.

based on what you said, here is one other issue that might have something to do with the overall problem. back when the clothes were first coming out damp, we felt like the exhaust system might not be working properly. it was one of those where the exhaust vent went straight into the wall (and i assume traveled straight through to upstairs, and released through a vent on the roof)...we tried cleaning out the duct running up the wall, but without much success - if it was blocked up inside the wall, then it was happening at a point higher up than we could reach with the cleaning tool

since the dryer was right next to the garage, my solution was to cut a hole in the wall leading out to the garage, and install a new dryer exhaust vent there...effectively abandoning the original dryer vent location all together. This seemed to work - we had a good strong flow of air directly out into the garage, and the clothes started drying much much better. but it wasn't long after that the heating element went out for the first time. Based on your comments, i'm thinking that maybe during the time when the exhaust vent was routed straight to the wall of the house, that the lack of good outgoing airflow might have caused some lint to "back up" into the dryer itself, resulting in the problem you described....does this sound feasible to you?

[friskyweasel]

let me add a quick PS of my own here - Just want to say thanks to you AmpDraw and to ALL the other professionals here that take time out to share their expert knowledge. You are all MUCH appreciated!

[denman]

My guess would be you received a defective heater

I do not have a schematic for your unit but on most electric dryers the thermal fuse will also kill the motor. Make sure when you check thermostats that you remove one wire from it so that you do not measure an alternate path, also use the lowest ohms scale you have.

After cleaning your vent system I would also check the lint filter and the holes at the back of the drum for clogging/residue. The reason I say this is you mentioned black heater coils this could be caused by excessive use of fabric softener. It does not take much of a coating on the lint filter to reduce air flow significantly.
If it is clogged soap and water will clean it.

Don't get discouraged as a famous orator once said "S--t Happens".

[friskyweasel]

ok guys - this is weird - i have to honestly say i have no idea what's going on at this point.

i went and pulled the lint screen out of the drier and attempted to use a flashlight to see what i could see down the lint screen chute...

since i was there, i figured i would go ahead and do the open door test one more time...i opened the main dryer door, pushed in on the shuton/shutoff tab so that it would run with the door open, and cut on the drier

HEAT came out of the rear left vent, and the drier seemed to be working normally...

you might think i'm crazy at this point, but after replacing the heating element the first time, when my sister first told me - "seems like the dryer's not working again" .. i KNOW i ran the exact same test and there was no heat at all....i even held my hand inside the dryer, just inches away from where the heat is supposed to be coming in through the rear left vent, and still felt no heat...i let it run several minutes before finally deciding the heating element had gone out

this is the first time in several weeks (we've been hanging the clothes out to dry) that i've run that same test, but now this time it seems to be working - somehow i ended up in the appliance twilight zone on this one...

well - just thought i'd update you guys in case you've ever heard of anything as crazy as this happening...i will monitor its performance, and also try checking for lint blockages as ampdraw suggested

[AmpDraw]

There is also a high limit thermostat that acts in the same way as your thermal fuse, difference is when the high limit trips, unlike the fuse, it will (when good) reset itself after cooling back down.

Same problems apply though that will cause this to happen, there's a restriction somewhere in your air flow. If you have an "auto" cycle on this dryer, make sure your running it in normal timed heat while checking it out.

In that link I gave you above, #34, #59, #42, #1 will all cause no heat with a known good element and blocked air flow somewhere. Since its heating now we can at least rule out #59 since it will blow and need to be replaced to ever work again. Its possible that 34, 42, or 1 are going bad, but most likely they are working and the failure is clogged from a plug.

As far as the venting outside the dryer, bends and any kind of cover at the outside of the house are the most likely trap points for lint to build up in. You can test this out easy enough by running the dryer with the vent hose removed from the back of the dryer. You should also feel a rather strong flow coming out that vent hole providing its only partialy plugged and not fully.

I don't see a moisture sensor on this one used for an "auto" cycle in the parts breakdown, but just incase make sure your using the normal timed heat cycle while testing this out like I said. This feature misleads a lot of people during testing when they have no or dry clothes in the dryer and are trying to figure out why its not heating.

[bettyboop]

One thing to remember, when you open the door, you will feel the heat, but with the door open you stop the flow of heat that is normally sucked thru the lint chute. try running the dryer with a load, and leave the vent hose off. You should get a strong blast of hot air, and your clothes should dry fast. If not you'll have to take off the lint chute and clean the area good especially at the blower wheel.