[Joyce Bowen]

Love this old machine. Been repairing it myself for years. I just replaced the heating element yesterday. but the moisture sensor is a bit off, running the machine longer than necessary. Where's the darn thing located, and is there an online source showing the location of all the named parts. I only have a numbered diagram and no listing that I downloaded long ago expecting, sears to continue the pratice of this convenience. Joke's on me, I guess... I did find a diagram, but it's too small to read the parts, and it's very blurry.

[denman]

There may be a better copy of a wiring diagram hidden in the control console

I do not have a wiring diagram but checked the parts on two site and could not find a moisture sensor, so my guess is you do not have one

When you say "but the moisture sensor is a bit off, running the machine longer than necessary", what exactly do you mean?
How much longer?
Does the unit get as hot as it used to?
Is the replacement heating element the same wattage as the original?
Is it slow on timed and auto cycles?
Does it complete an auto cycle?
Did you clean and check your vent system when the heater was replaced? Always a good idea.

Did it happen right after changing the heater element OR did the unit run OK for a while and now has this problem?

I believe the way your unit runs is that when the heater shuts off during Auto cycles voltage is transferred to the timer through a resistor. It uses the air temp/cycle frequency to determine the air dryness and therefore the time it takes till the end of cycle.

Sorry could not be of more help.

[Joyce Bowen]

The clothes are dry long before the cycle times out. There is no timed cycle to this portion of the dial. It simply runs out when the clothes are supposed to be dry. There are four segments to the timing dial: gentle untimed; regular untimed; gentle timed; regular timed. The untimed portion has been running off since before I replaced the heat element.

Perhaps it is time to replace the resistor. I didn’t think of that option. I’ve never replace it. As you’ve said, there is no apparent moisture sensor even though it appears the machine’s knob advances as the humidity decreases in the clothing. I did consider replacing the main control knob. (Too lazy to look up actual term.)

[denman]

Your resistor is probably OK
Usually they blow open and your timer would not advance, so the cycle would never end.

Clean the vent if you have not done this and make sure the outside vent flap opens completely

In a way you are measuring the moisture by measuring the temperatures.
Moist air requires more time/heat to come up to the proper temp.
As moisture drops thermostat cycles more often, timer advances faster.

[Joyce Bowen]

Oh gosh -- my bad. Knob has air dry, gentle, permanent press/cotton, and timed. Must have brain-freeze after going without a boiler for a month. Tied up with troubleshooting new boiler electronics, then shooting into dryer breakdown, and now pipeclog in cellar. (Will it ever end?) I have heat now anyway. And my clothes dry.

After working in an engineering department as an electronic tech, I can say with some certainty that the resistor is out of spec after 21 years. If I had the meter to check it, it would not be at the reading that is required. It might even be ready to blow.

My vent goes from the back of the machine right to the outside with a Teflon doodad, jutting out the third-floor wall, that I must clean regularly or else. I just cleaned it a few weeks ago.

I might be expecting too much from this old machine. It’s working well enough now. I’m getting more frugal as the price of electricity climbs and am looking to my appliances to work at peak efficiency. It’s not something I’ve expected before. Sheets dry fast and it cycles slowly down far past sheets drying-time, and I’ve just dried a load of sweaters in which some are still damp. The range is probably appropriate. It’s probably what I can expect. I should be grateful I can get the parts and be satisfied with that.

But I will replace that resistor while I still can. The timer was not advancing while the heating element was out this time, and that is the first time I have seen this machine do this. I started my son's clothes before I went to bed and woke in the morning to a cold machine still running. Never hurts to be safe.